The Society of Professional Journalists

    Over the course of time, journalism has grown immensely. In its origins, journalism didn't have nearly as much outreach or community as it does now. As a result of new technology and community growth, journalists are able to bind together in their field. Now, people all across the world are able to practice journalism within a community created just for that, The Society of Professional Journalists.

    The Society of Professional Journalists is an organization that was founded in 1909 at DePaul University in Greencastle, Indiana. 

    The SPJ was originally created to improve and protect journalism. Within their organization, they include broadcast, print and online journalists, journalism educators, and students with a desire to pursue journalism as a career all spread across nation participating in different chapters of the SPJ.

    The Society of Professional Journalists lists also has a specific code of ethics. This code says that the SPJ seeks the truth and reports it, minimizes harm, acts independently, and is accountable and transparent. The purpose of this specific code of ethics is to make sure that the SPJ focuses on public enlightenment in order to serve justice and have proper democracy. Also according to this code,  journalists in the SPJ should be able to explain ethical choices and the process of making them to their audience, respond quickly to questions that focus on the accuracy of the information they report, acknowledge when they make a mistake and be able to correct it in a timely fashion, expose unethical journalism, and hold themselves to the same high standards that they hold others to.

    The SPJ offers training programs, opportunities for professional development, stage conferences, and on demand jobs to help journalists become more experienced in their field. 

 Originally, the SPJ was founded as the Sigma Delta Chi fraternity by ten journalism students. They didn't change their name until 1973 when they changed it to Society of Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi, and then again in 1988 when they officially changed to the SPJ.

    Starting in 1916, the SPJ began shifting from an honorary fraternity to a professional society. Their first big step in this process was the establishment of professional chapters in 1921. Then, the organization finally made the official shift to a professional society in 1960 after being rejected in 1937 and 1947 at their annual conventions. 

    The SPJ didn’t accept just anyone into their fraternity in the beginning, they didn’t start accepting women into their society until 1969. Once women started getting invited to the fraternity, Caroline Ross Pokrzywinski became the first woman to be accepted to the board in 1971, a big step for women in the SPJ. Then, less than ten years later in 1980, Jean Otto became the first elected female president, solidifying the important role of women in the SPJ. Now, the SPJ is home to about 7,000 members nationwide, male and female.  

    One of the major projects completed by the SPJ is Project Sunshine. This project was created to focus the attention of the press on problems of steadily0eroding access to national, state, and local government. Project Sunshine first began in 1990 in order to identify threats to public access and government and to organize a force to fight against those threats. With endorsements from the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation and The Freedom Forum, Project Sunshine was able to estate Sunshine laws to cover open meetings and public records. Overall, Project Sunshine is based off of team-building and establishing a network that is often called in to work on other immediate problems to campus journalism.