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Building
named for 'Abraham Lincoln
of Montana journalism'
It’s
official: The state Board of Regents last month unanimously approved
naming UM’s new School of Journalism building after Don Anderson,
a major player in Montana newspaper history.
The decision paved the way for construction of a $12 million facility
to replace the building that has housed the growing journalism program
since 1936. Groundbreaking ceremonies for Don Anderson Hall, which
is being built with private funds, are scheduled for April 22.
Anderson, a Gallatin Valley native, was instrumental in Lee Enterprises’s
purchase of five Montana daily newspapers from the Anaconda Co. in
1959.
Journalism Dean Jerry Brown, who knows Anderson only from historical
records and conversations with the man’s friends and family,
describes him as a consummate diplomat and a man of impeccable character
with a “commitment to the principles of a free press in a democracy.”
When Anderson died in 1978, his obituary called him the “Abraham
Lincoln of Montana journalism and described him as the liberator of
the Montana news media from control of the Anaconda Co.
“That is not an overstatement,” Brown said. When Anderson
was inducted into the Montana Journalism Hall of Fame, it was noted
that Anderson “encouraged and inspired his Montana editors and
publishers to exercise their new freedom with complete and fair news
coverage, hard-hitting editorial positions on issues and reader access
to newspaper columns with letters to the editor.”
Brown said Anderson’s values as a newspaperman mirror those
of the UM journalism school. His spirit, Brown said, is closely aligned
with UM’s mission to be a “closely defined professional
school” that stresses the fundamentals of accurate, clear and
ethical reporting, rather than diluting its curriculum with mass communications,
public relations and advertising.
In the last five years, UM has been among the top 10 of 109 accredited
journalism programs, according to the Hearst Journalism Competition
for student writers, photographers and broadcasters.
Among chief contributors to the building project are Anderson’s
daughter and son-in-law, Sue and John Talbot of Missoula, and Lloyd
Schermer, retired Lee Enterprises president, and his wife, Betty,
of Aspen, Colo.
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