The School started off as the Zimbabwe Institute of Mass Communication (ZIMCO) soon after independence (1980) as a result of combined efforts between the Government of Zimbabwe and the United Nations Educational Scientific Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), making it the oldest journalism training institution in the country.  Following the exodus of white journalists and the end of the Smith regime, the institution was set up to train journalists who would fill up vacated posts in Zimbabwean newspapers and broadcast institutions.

A project involving the International Press Institute (IPI) was quickly devised to provide a six-month training course in journalism basics. The institute offered a one-year certificate course in news agency journalism, radio production, technical operations, newspaper journalism and mass communication.

The institution operated under the supervision of the Ministry of Information and later the Ministry of Manpower Planning and Development. It was a creation o the Zimbabwe Mass Media Trust (ZMMT) whose Board superintended over the institute’s operations working with an Advisory Committee comprising representatives from the Ministry of Information, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Manpower Planning, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), the Zimbabwe Inter-Africa News Agency (ZIANA), Zimbabwe Newspapers (ZIMPAPERS), and Mambo Press.