The Missouri Press Association is a 501(c)(6) nonprofit founded on May 16, 1867, by editors and publishers in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

. It was responsible for establishing the

Missouri School of Journalism The Missouri School of Journalism, housed under the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri, Columbia, is one of the oldest formal journalism schools in the world. The school provides academic education and practical training in of journalis ...

, the first school of

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

in the US, at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

. Mark Maassen has been their executive director since 2015. In an interview for KKFI radio in

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

, Maassen praised the ''Missouri Independent'', which is an online-only news organization covering government, politics and policy. Their stories are often republished in local newspapers around the state. They have won multiple awards from the Missouri Press Association. He also noted that Missouri currently has 207 newspapers with at least one in each of Missouri's 114 counties. Other states have news deserts and ghost newspapers; Missouri does not. The Missouri Press Association gives annual awards. The ''

Columbia Missourian The ''Columbia Missourian'' is a digital-first newspaper based in Columbia, Missouri, published online seven days a week and in print five days a week. The newspaper is affiliated with the Missouri School of Journalism, and is owned as a 501c3 n ...

'' won 81 awards from them in 2023 and lesser numbers in previous years. The Missouri Press Association is a member of the

Chamber of Commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to a ...

Columbia, Missouri Columbia is a city in Missouri, United States. It was founded in 1821 as the county seat of Boone County, Missouri, Boone County and had a population of 126,254 as recorded in the 2020 United States census, making it the List of cities in Misso ...

References

American journalism organizations 1867 establishments in Missouri Organizations based in Columbia, Missouri Organizations established in 1867 {{US-culture-org-stub