In 1923, a gloomy editorial announced journalism at the University of Tennessee Knoxville

When the Knoxville News staff put together its newspaper on Aug. 27, 1923, they uniquely found themselves writing about their own profession. 

Under the headline “Journalism at UT” was the short announcement, “The (President J. Harcourt) Morgan administration at the University of Tennessee has announced a course in journalism.” 

The subject was to be taught by James W. Painter, whose background included taking a course at Emory and Henry College in 1917, working for the Bristol Herald-Courier one summer and being on the staff of the Stars and Stripes military paper overseas during World War I. He had also recently received a master’s degree from UT, where he was a vocational teacher.

Rather than being a typically upbeat news announcement, however, the item on the opinion page seemed rather pessimistic. The apparent point was that journalism was best taught by those with years in the business, and that Painter did not have that. “The University of Tennessee has again shown lack of judgment,” the biting editorial concluded.

However, despite that unwarm welcome, journalism would survive and thrive at UT, eventually becoming its own school and producing such notable journalists as Monica Langley, formerly of The Wall Street Journal, and sportscasters Gene Wojciechowski and Paul Finebaum (who was an English major but worked at the Daily Beacon).

Last month, the School of Journalism and Media observed UT’s 100th anniversary of journalism education with a small reception.

“Over 100 students, faculty, staff, and recent alumni stopped by to celebrate with us,” said interim school director Dr. Courtney Childers. “We gave out free T-shirts, food, and drinks.”

She said that the school had been alerted to the 100th anniversary from an older document found in the school archives, and that the program was initially part of the English department. 

The college catalog from 1923-24 found online said that UT offered two journalism classes that year as English electives for juniors and seniors who had already had upper-level English classes. The level 3 class offered “practical exercises in the writing of the news story, the sports story and special feature articles, with collateral reading embracing the theoretical and ethical aspects of newspaper writing.”

The level 4 class, meanwhile, focused on exercises in headline writing, criticism, and editorials, with some additional study on the mechanics of modern printing.

Both subjects were taught by Painter, whom the 1924 annual, the Volunteer, said lived at 745 N. Fifth Ave. He was one of eight English faculty members, a group that included library namesake and textbook author John C. Hodges and five women faculty members.

Among the 1924 graduates, and an older student who likely took a journalism class, was J. Zollie Howard, who was named an outstanding senior, perhaps a forerunner to being a Torchbearer. He probably had the proverbial printer’s ink in his blood referenced in the level 4 class, as he was editor of at least three writing publications at UT. He went on to be an editor at the Knoxville News Sentinel and the Memphis Press-Scimitar.

One of his classmates, who would become an outstanding citizen as a future U.S. senator and vice presidential candidate, was Estes Kefauver. The class of 1924 had fewer than 200 members, after more than 400 had started as freshmen in the fall of 1920. 

1923 was also the first year a UT alumnus would win a Pulitzer Prize, although it was for a dramatic play by Owen Davis and not journalistic work.

Longtime UT historian Betsey Creekmore thinks the journalism and English classes at UT at that time would have likely been held in two-year-old Ayres Hall, with now-razed Science Hall another popular classroom building at the time. 

A glance at the old 1924 annual shows that the UT campus was full of five or 10 now-long-gone buildings around the Hill. 

A Volopedia historical entry by Creekmore said that UT increased its journalism class offerings to three in 1925, with a 1927-28 catalog listing the instructor as a Mr. Taylor. By that time − by getting the program going − Professor Painter had probably made the Knoxville News want to run a correction

The journalism department became part of the business school in 1947 after the recommendation of the Tennessee Press Association, and it later operated out of Glocker Hall, which was eventually incorporated into the Haslam College of Business.

The year 1969 saw the opening of the circular College of Communication and Information Building by Circle Park, where professors more than 50 years later are continuing to teach the basics of journalism and broadcasting and prepare students for a changing future.

“It’s an exciting time for the School of Journalism and Media to reflect on a century of journalism education while also looking ahead to an exciting future,” said director Childers.