Pioneering Editor Dorothy Jurney

to be Inducted into Hall of Fame

Dorothy Jurney, a pioneering Detroit Free Press editor and AWC Detroit national Headliner who led the change of women’s pages into lifestyle sections with hard-hitting topics, will be inducted April 13 into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame.

The Association for Women in Communications Detroit president Laura Oliveto will accept the honor. “Throughout her career, Dorothy embodied AWC values – integrity, respect, intellect and mentorship – and we are delighted to have had a hand in her induction into the Hall of Fame.”

As editor of the Detroit Free Press’s “For and About Women” section between 1959 and 1973, Jurney was the architect of one of the most significant changes of her era, revamping sections that for decades had covered the four Fs – food, family, furnishings and fashion – into vibrant lifestyle sections. The Washington Press Foundation called her the “godmother of the transformation of the women’s page.” 

She received AWC’s top Headliner Award in 1973.

Jurney grew up in a newspaper household. Her father was publisher of the Michigan City News in Indiana and her mother was a suffragist and one of the first women to be elected to the Indiana General Assembly.

A graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, Jurney went on to become a top editor in the Knight Ridder newspaper chain, with jobs at the Gary Post-Tribune, the Washington Daily News, the Charlotte Observer, the Miami Herald, the Detroit Free Press and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Her career is considered so distinguished that the University of Missouri School of Journalism has a collection of her archived work.

She faced major discrimination throughout her career. When World War II ended, she relinquished her acting city editor job in Washington DC to a man she was asked to train, at a time when women were demoted or lost their jobs to men returning from the war.

Jurney is the eighth AWC Detroit member to be inducted into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame, joining Joanne C. Gerstner, Patricia Anstett, Mary Lou Butcher, Anne Doyle, Jennifer Moore, Julie Candler and Fran Harris.

The Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame recognizes reporters, editors, publishers, owners, photographers, broadcasters, educators, and others who have made outstanding contributions to the profession.

AWC Detroit is a sponsor of the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame, which was created to recognize those who have advanced the legacy of a free and responsible press and who have inspired others to improve the quality of the profession.

Patricia Anstett represents the chapter on the nomination committee. If you have suggestions for future nominees, email her at panstett47@gmail.com.