Several student news programs came together Tuesday to launch Cronkite News, a multimedia news website for Walter Cronkite School students and other Arizona residents.
The site will primarily include digital content from Cronkite News Service and video from Cronkite News Watch, said Steve Elliott, founding director of Cronkite News Service’s print and digital services.
Cronkite News Service and Cronkite News Watch are two of the Cronkite School’s cornerstone student news services, consisting of undergraduate and graduate student reporters.
The site will also carry content from Arizona Fact Check, News21 and the Southwest Borderlands Initiative, he said.
Cronkite News reached over 4,000 views in its first day, Elliott said, which exceeded expectations dramatically.
“I don’t think there are a lot of news organizations in the Valley that have as much content as we do,” Elliott said. “We do things they don’t do, in terms of what we cover, and we tell those stories in innovative ways.”
Mark Lodato, assistant dean of the Cronkite School and news director of Cronkite News Watch, said not to look for crime or traffic on this site.
“Our goal is that it becomes a strong resource for Arizonans looking for (substantive) content,” Lodato said, adding that a primary focus will be on government and politics.
Cronkite News Service is primarily a digital wire service, and several online and print publications across the state regularly pick up its stories. Previously they were posted on a site linked to the Cronkite School’s page, but the new site will aggregate the content.
Cronkite News Watch, which airs live programming throughout the week, will now have somewhere to organize its content as well.
“This is going to be much more timely and … readily available to the average consumer,” Lodato said. “This is really designed for the news consumer.”
The site will most likely host about 12 stories a day, including print and video, and could include breaking news before it appears in publications and on News Watch’s programming, Lodato said.
“Between our stuff and News Watch, we have a lot to offer,” Cronkite News Service’s Elliott said.
Siera Lambrecht, a broadcast journalism senior and Cronkite News Watch reporter whose Spanish Immersion package ran on the website, said the new site will give people greater access through features such as sharing stories on Twitter.
“It’s exciting because now everyone can access our content,” Lambrecht said, adding that it will give people the newscasts at their convenience.
The site is intended not just for students, but for a general audience, according to Lodato and Elliott.
“This is a very fun and very interesting outlet that we’re going to maximize for our students – and for Arizona,” Elliott said.
Contact the reporter at vpelham@asu.edu
