Midlands journalists are being urged to provide memories and anecdotes for a project recording changes in the industry.
The department of journalism at Liverpool John Moores University and the National Union of Journalists are working together to produce the oral history to help celebrate the union's centenary in 2007.
The record will be created from people's experiences of their careers in journalism and within the union.
Entitled "Oral History of the NUJ", an open-access website will provide a platform for memories from all sectors of the industry.
The site will also be available as a research and study tool.
Birmingham-based Chris Morley, the NUJ's national president, said: "The union was founded here in 1907 and this project is a fitting tribute to the union's remarkable 100-year history which we will be celebrating next year in this city.
"More to the point, it will capture in the most direct way the hugely important memories and stories of the people who were responsible for making the news over the decades.
"The Midlands has a rich journalistic tradition so I hope the region's journalists will feature prominently when the oral history is launched at the NUJ's centenary Annual Delegate Meeting in Birmingham next April."
Volunteers will be interviewed for half an hour by a local media student.
LJMU's head of journalism, a former NUJ president, Professor Chris Frost said: "This is a very exciting project that should help us to record the last fifty years or so of journalism and the NUJ -fifty years that have seen some enormous changes. n Interviews start in October. Contact Zoe Alker on Z.Alker@ljmu.ac.uk or telephone on 0151 231 5025.
