The Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation has awarded a two-year grant to the Walter Cronkite School and the University of Oklahoma to fund students to participate in the national Carnegie-Knight News21 fellowship.
“This is a wonderful shot in the arm for the News21 program,” said Bill Marimow, executive editor of the News21 program.
Beginning next year, the grant will fund six students participating in the News21 program from both ASU’s Cronkite School and the University of Oklahoma’s Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication, Marimow said. It is undetermined how many of those six students will be from each school, he said.
The grant will provide funding for two years and allow the students to become fellows of the News21 program, a national 10-week fellowship that focuses on developing innovative, in-depth reporting.
“The News21 program allows student journalists to study specific topics, use investigative reporting, digital materials and interactive journalism to create projects of national importance.” Marimow said.
Previously, the national News21 teams have produced investigative projects on topics such as transportation safety and food safety. Thanks to partnerships with both legacy and new media organizations, News21 stories have been published by organizations such as the Washington Post, msnbc.com and the Center for Public Integrity.
Robert J. Ross, president and CEO of the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, said he was thrilled to provide funding for News21. The foundation is structuring the grant to allow funding for three to four ASU students and two to three Oklahoma students, Ross said.
“(News21) is unique and provides students with a real insight into the impact of investigative journalism and the importance it plays in our country,” Ross said. “We hope that the program offers students a glimpse into the life of an investigative journalist and inspires them to pursue careers in the field.”
Cronkite School Dean Christopher Callahan said he is excited that the grant has become accessible to ASU students.
“This generous gift from the Ethics and Excellence Foundation illustrates the power of the News21 program,” Callahan said. “We believe that News21, with its combination of depth journalism and innovation, is the best program any aspiring journalist can experience.”
Callahan said the opportunity for the nation’s “very best student journalists” to work with industry veterans such as Len Downie, former executive editor of the Washington Post; Bill Marimow, former executive editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer; and Cronkite School Associate Dean Kristin Gilger allows for the production of high-quality, impact-driven journalism.
“That’s an unbeatable combination,” Callahan said.
News21 will also be expanding its acceptance to those outside of the existing coalition of 12 universities, which will have guaranteed spots in the program. Those 12 schools — the Cronkite School; the University of Nebraska; the University of Oklahoma; the University of North Carolina; the University of Texas at Austin; Syracuse University; the University of Maryland; Harvard University; the University of California, Berkley; the University of Missouri; Columbia University; and the University of Southern California — will be joined by other qualified journalism schools.
“The application process will be rigorous,” Marimow said. “The schools outside of Cronkite will be nominated to us, and Len Downie, Kristin Gilger and myself will review the applications.”
Downie’s News21 topics seminar in the spring, taught at the Cronkite School but made available to students elsewhere via video conference, will be a requirement for all applicants, Marimow said.
The broadening of the News21 program to all interested universities will be highly beneficial to all of its participants, Callahan said.
“As for working with students from other schools, today’s news operations are more collaborative than ever,” Callahan said. “News21 gives students the added bonus of learning how to work with students from schools around the country.”
What will the new members of next year’s News21 program be investigating and reporting on? Marimow said we will have to wait and see.
“We are getting pretty close, and we are a definitely going to keep it very topical.”
All the fellows who are chosen will spend the summer of 2012 at the Cronkite School, Marimow said.
Contact the reporter at nkstark@asu.edu
