The Deseret News had humble beginnings. Its first press, not much larger than a coffee table, was carried across the Plains and over the Rocky Mountains on an oxen-drawn cart by some gold prospectors headed to California. The press was housed in a small adobe hut in downtown Salt Lake City, a modest structure that doubled as the territorial mint.
The first day of publication, June 15, 1850, marked the beginning of one the West's oldest and most storied newspapers. While the paper has weathered 12 homes and myriad technological changes while covering world, national and neighborhood news for 150 years, its aims and ambitions are remarkably similar to those of its founders, who bestowed the newspaper's first motto "Truth and Liberty."
Technology is the lifeblood of today's Deseret News. Every word, every image is handled electronically. Photographers use digital cameras and artists and paginators design pages using computers. Cell phones and laptop computers are staples.
Yet the 150 men and women who work at the Deseret News in 2000 share a common bond with the generations of journalists, editors, photographers and artists who have produced this newspaper throughout the years. The Deseret News is truly a window to the world. It seeks to inform, entertain, provoke thought, foster debate and improve this state and its communities.
The Deseret News takes seriously its role as a good corporate citizen. It sponsors events ranging from Sterling Scholars, which recognizes northern Utah's best and brightest high school seniors, to the annual 10K and marathon runs held on Pioneer Day, which tests the mettle of runners from Utah, as well as from other states and nations. In observance of the paper's 150th anniversary, the Deseret News has established scholarship endowments at four Utah universities for print journalism students, a move the newspaper hopes will preserve its legacy of journalistic excellence.
Today, the Deseret News features a front page story by columnist Lee Benson in which prominent Utahns share anecdotes about the Mountain West's oldest newspaper, which is also the longest continually operating business in Salt Lake City. Today's newspaper also features a Focus by Lois Collins on the future of newspapers. Not to give away the punch line, but the future looks bright.
On Sunday, June 25, the Deseret News will publish a special section feting its sesquicentennial that will give readers a behind-the-scenes look at the production of the newspaper and the people who create it on a daily basis.
This anniversary causes us to reflect upon the truly great men and women who toiled on these pages before us. We look forward with great enthusiasm to the challenges, news events and technological challenges that lie ahead.
While the method of production has changed radically over the years, the Deseret News' commitment to excellence has remained a constant.
Thank you for welcoming the Deseret News into your homes for the past 150 years. As Deseret News publisher Wm. James Mortimer told civic leaders during a recent anniversary banquet in downtown Salt Lake City, "The best is yet to come."
Indeed.