The Missouri Press Association and its 300 member newspapers celebrate the rich heritage of Missouri journalists, yesterday and today, in the documentary video, Trustees for the Public: 200 Years of Missouri Newspapers.

Two centuries have passed since Joseph Charless, an Irishman, became the first pioneer newspaper publisher in St. Louis. Since his July 12, 1808 issue of the Missouri Gazette, more than 6,000 newspapers have come and gone in the Show-Me State.

Joseph Charless, Mark Twain, Eugene Field, Joseph Pulitzer, Ernest Hemingway, Walter Williams... these and others are remembered, along with Missouri Press Association's role in founding the State Historical Society of Missouri in 1898 and the Missouri School of Journalism in 1908.

Publishers and editors of Missouri newspapers recount stories of their careers, from the days of “hot type” printing, newspaper carriers hawking copies on street corners, to today’s modern newsrooms, high-speed offset presses and the emergence of newspapers’ use of the Internet.

A history of the press in Missouri would not be complete without reviewing The Journalist’s Creed, written by Dean Walter Williams of the Missouri School of Journalism. Ron Powers, a native of Hannibal, MO, award-winning journalist and Missouri graduate, reads the Creed as he honors his school and his profession.

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