Eight, Arizona PBS is officially part of Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, creating what school officials are calling a “teaching hospital.”
The move became official on Tuesday, establishing the largest media organization fully operated by a journalism school in the world. Arizona PBS, which includes three TV channels and azpbs.org, will continue to provide national PBS programming in addition to local and student content.
“There has been a close relationship for many years (between ASU and PBS),” Kristin Gilger, associate dean of the Cronkite School, said. “It makes sense for both sides.”
Gilger said PBS has contributed to student experience at ASU for a long time.
“Now (PBS) will be integrated into academics and bring students and the community together,” she said.
Although school officials are not decided on how PBS will be integrated into the school, Gilger said it will provide an innovative platform for testing and development.
“This is an opportunity to have a vibrant platform for student work,” Gilger said. “It will be professionally done.”
The station will still show the same national content, including “NOVA” and “Downton Abbey,” but the move to Cronkite will allow PBS to create student-created local news content in a traditional format, Gilger said.
The Cronkite School features an array of professional programs, including Cronkite News Service, a news desk that covers state government and issues; Cronkite NewsWatch, a nightly television newscast; and the Carnegie-Knight News21 initiative, in which students produce multimedia investigations for publishing partners including the Washington Post and NBC News.
“This puts students into a very immersive learning environment,” Gilger said, adding that PBS is a “bountiful” platform for student experience and that news will be more accessible to the citizens of Arizona. The 53-year-old public television station has more than one million viewers weekly and has the second-largest viewership of university-operated PBS stations, according to an ASU press release.
Gilger said the decision would attract prospective students to Cronkite.
“The (students) know they will get a chance to practice and learn under professional editors.” She added that students take “hands-on, meaningful classes.”
“There remains a tremendous need for reinvention and disruptive innovation in today’s news industry,” said Christopher Callahan, the Downtown Phoenix campus’ vice provost and dean of the Cronkite School, in a news release. “Our Arizona PBS initiative can provide a place where commercial news operations can try out their ideas.”
NewsWatch, which covers public policy news around the state, will give Arizona PBS one of the nation’s only local PBS news shows that broadcasts every weekday, according to a press release.
The decision to add PBS to the Cronkite School has enticed prospective students, including 17-year-old Jake Garado, a senior at Greenway High School in Phoenix. Garado said ASU is “emerging as a top-notch journalism school.”
“Cronkite has always captured my attention because of the many opportunities students have to learn from experienced journalists and by being treated like professionals,” Garado said. “The decision to make PBS part of the school shows how committed the school is to teaching students in a professional and real-world setting.”
Cronkite plans to add new immersion programs in business reporting and sports within the next six months and will look to other areas in the university to create other professional programs within Arizona PBS. ASU hopes other media outlets bring ideas to Cronkite to experiment on the Arizona PBS platform, a press release said.
Contact the reporter at mmkallo@asu.edu
