{"id":13516,"date":"2026-09-08T10:04:50","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T15:04:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/blog\/?p=13516"},"modified":"2026-09-08T10:04:51","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T15:04:51","slug":"journalisms-gold-standard-since-1908","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/blog\/2026\/09\/08\/journalisms-gold-standard-since-1908\/","title":{"rendered":"Journalism\u2019s gold standard since 1908"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Walter<\/a>
Clockwise from left: Walter Williams Hall in 2026, a bust of Walter Williams located in Boonville, Mo., Walter Williams at his desk.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Missouri School of Journalism, the first and best in the world, was founded on Sept. 14, 1908, by its first dean and Mizzou legend, Walter Williams. It opened with 64 enrolled students including 53 freshmen. Thanks to Williams\u2019 vision, this year the J-School welcomed more than 1,700 total undergraduates. Next week, we\u2019ll celebrate his enduring legacy and the\u00a0school\u2019s 118-year tradition<\/a>\u00a0of excellence on\u00a0Founder’s Day<\/a>. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Williams was a Boonville native and pioneer in journalism education who also wrote the “Journalist’s Creed<\/a>” to ensure the highest standards at Mizzou and across the profession. For well over a century, J-School faculty have built upon Williams\u2019 dedication to trust and integrity, while helping students launch extraordinary careers using the Missouri Method of hands-on learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kenton<\/a>
Left to right: Kenton Gewecke and Hanna Battah in 2014 at KOMU, Gewecke and Battah in 2025 at “Good Morning America”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mizzou alumni serve in prestigious roles at leading news organizations and communications agencies across the country.\u00a0Hanna Battah, BJ ’15<\/a>, got her start at Mizzou\u2019s NBC-affiliate KOMU 8 before becoming co-anchor of ABC News\u2019 \u201cWorld News Now\u201d and \u201cGood Morning America First Look.\u201d Fellow alum\u00a0Kenton Gewecke, BS ’17<\/a>, worked as chief meteorologist at KOMU and is now on the meteorology team at ABC News, including \u201cGood Morning America.\u201d Kenton and Hanna appear on \u201cGMA\u201d and \u201cABC News Live\u201d in front of millions of viewers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Laine<\/a>
Laine Cibulskis and Lisa Krantz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Our students and alumni are also among the most accomplished in the field, including more than 75 Pulitzer Prize winners. Among them is Laine Cibulskis, BJ \u201926, who won with a team from The New York Times during her senior year at Mizzou. Additionally,\u00a0new faculty member and recent alum Lisa Krantz, PhD ’24<\/a>, earned the award the same year she completed her doctorate at Mizzou.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Walter Williams to today\u2019s world-class faculty, Mizzou leads the way and prepares our students to make an impact. We are grateful to alumni across our 13 schools and colleges who provide their own examples of excellence and pave the way forward for the next generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Mun<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Missouri School of Journalism, the first and best in the world, was founded on Sept. 14, 1908, by its first dean and Mizzou legend, Walter Williams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13516"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13527,"href":"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13516\/revisions\/13527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/president.missouri.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}