John E. Copus, S.J.
An Appreciation

 

Reverend Father John Edwin Copus was a 19th Century newspaper reporter turned Jesuit priest. He left the Detroit Evening News to enter the priesthood because he was offended by the excesses of yellow journalism (including sensationalism and a lack of truthfulness) that dominated the newspaper business of his time.



He founded the Marquette School of Journalism in 1910.

Father Copus believed that journalists should be honest, thorough, fair-minded and proficient in the use of the English language.

He put those ideals into practice with his students and in his own writing during his brief tenure as a journalism teacher at Marquette. The principles he advocated continue to influence the program to this day.

Early Years

The child who became Father John E. Copus was born at Guildford, England, in 1854. He was baptized Episcopalian.

Guildford, Surrey, England

He became a teacher after graduating from the English equivalent of high school.

He converted to Catholicism at he age of 22.

Many years later, he wrote about his decision to change faith communities. He said he found the Episcopal Church to be doctrinally inconsistent, and this led him to question its authority.

The turning point came when he attended high mass at an Episcopal church and found the ritual emotionally unsatisfying. He returned the following Sunday to discover that an informal, conventional service had been instituted.

"I then asked myself," Copus wrote many years later, "how that church could be, not the true church, but a true church, which could, within eight days, from the same pulpit, teach diametrically opposite doctrines by accredited and official expounders of its creed."

Within a month he began studying under the direction of a Catholic priest. Soon thereafter, he left the Episcopal Church.

Newspaper Career

Copus and his brother received a sizable inheritance, emigrated to Canada, and bought a farm. They lost it due to financial difficulties and split up. Copus found work as a farmhand.

Disappointed as he may have been by his failure as a farmer, during this period Copus found his life enriched by a succession of parish priests.

The brothers were eventually reunited in Kingsville, Ontario, where Copus was an assistant editor of his brother's newspaper, the Reporter - his first exposure to journalism.

Copus was later employed at the Detroit Evening News, where he worked with Ellen Browning Scripps, a dynamic young woman who wrote a front-page column for many years that touched favorably on such controversial doctrines as women's suffrage and prohibition.



Copus may have acquired his favorable attitude toward women in journalism from his association with Scripps at the Evening News.

He supported the admission of women into the Marquette journalism program because he hoped they "would improve the standards of the profession."

Copus joined the Society of Jesus in 1887. He was stationed at Marquette in 1895, 1899 and 1907.

Marquette

It happened that Father Copus was assigned to Marquette when it was adding new courses in economics and business in response to popular demand. His novel idea of starting a journalism program was well-received.

J-School classroom (note sign, upper right)

The J-School was established in the College of Economics in 1910. There were 17 students in the first class.

The 1911 course catalog described the program with disarming candor:

"The School of Journalism has been organized within the College of Economics of Marquette University for the benefit of young men who have the brains, energy and ambition to succeed in newspaper work ... . Its constant aim will be to develop clear thinking, keenness of observation, breadth of view, a firm grasp of underlying principles, and a high standard of newspaper ethics, coupled with enthusiasm for the profession."

Laboratory work and practical experience were a key part of the Marquette journalism program from the start. Father Copus published books and articles throughout his tenure at Marquette, was well-connected to the local journalism community, and was able to line students up with informal internships at the local papers. They followed Milwaukee's journalists on their daily rounds and even got stories of their own published from time to time.

Their hands-on experience and contacts in the newspaper business meant that Marquette students were well-positioned to get jobs upon graduation. Many went on to noteworthy careers in Milwaukee and through the world.

The first class graduated from the Marquette School of Journalism in 1914. Father Copus died in 1915 at the age of 61.

Philosophy

Historian Thomas Jablonsky wrote that Father Copus "had a dream. A dream of a new era in journalism, in which truth would dethrone sensationalism, in which 'faking' a story would be a cardinal offense. Beyond this, he envisioned schools of journalism rising as a practical force towards ethical journalism. That dream became the Marquette University College of Journalism."

Copus expressed it this way:

"The days of Bohemianism in the newspaper world have passed. ... There is consequently an ever increasing demand for men who know what good newspaper English is and are able to produce it; for men who have a true knowledge of news values and whose pencils can relate true and concise clear and accurate accounts of what they see and hear."

And more generally:

"To be adequately equipped for the battle of life a man must cultivate the powers of his memory, must brace up and strengthen the forces of his will so that with his knowing the right from the wrong he may have the power and the courage to choose the right and reject the wrong which he knows to be the wrong, and he must by the acquisition of knowledge give full opportunity for the play of that faculty of that intellect which we call the understanding."

Legacy

Anyone who pays attention to the field of journalism knows that the news business is in turmoil these days.

Battered by the 2008 economic recession and increasing competition from alternative media, many well-regarded print publications have downsized or gone out of business entirely. The broadcast industry is stressed, and alternative media are struggling to find a business model that will ensure their survival.

The values that Father Copus espoused at the inception of the Marquette journalism program are more relevant than ever in this chaotic professional environment. He challenged his students and his peers to reject sensationalism and screaming headlines, even if they sold papers in the short run, because they undermined the credibility of the profession in the long run. Instead, he called for a renewed commitment to public service.

The Marquette journalism program remains dedicated to the high moral and ethical standards that Father Copus advocated a century ago. To do less would undermine his legacy.

"The press, next to the pulpit, is the most powerful influence for good." - Father John E. Copus (1854-1915).





Sources

Anon. "Father John E. Copus." Woodstock Letters 44:393 (1915).

Curtis, Georgina P. Some Roads to Rome in America. B. Herder. St. Louis, MO (1909).

Jablonsky, Thomas J. Milwaukee's Jesuit University: Marquette 1881-1991. Marquette University Press (2007).

"Father Copus's Silver Jubilee." (1912). Newspaper Clipping. A-4.5 Series 9, File Copus, Rev. John E. S.J., Journalism. Department of Special Collections & University Archives, Marquette University, Marquette, WI. Marquette University Catalog (1911). A-6.2 Box 3, File Marquette University Catalogue 1911-12. Department of Special Collections & University Archives, Marquette University, Marquette, WI.