The story “Travel Safety Recommendations Ignored for Years” by News21 fellows Ryan Phillips of University of California-Berkeley and Aarti Shahani of Harvard University–with the headline “Safety Measures at a Standstill” on the front page–appeared alongside a story on Washingtonpost.com by Cronkite School digital journalism senior Tessa Muggeridge and Charlie Litton of the University of Nebraska.
Following the front page story, three other stories will appear on the front page of the Post’s Business section later in the week.
Today the News21 National project website, with 22 stories and multimedia content over five areas of transportation, went live. MSNBC and the Center for Public Integrity will also link to content of the News21 National project on their respective web pages.
“We’re going to have access to millions of readers around the world who are hopefully going to click on the stories and see what we (have),” said Cronkite School Associate Dean and National Project Faculty Adviser Kristin Gilger.
The project was completed in the summer of 2010 by 11 students from universities across the country, including Muggeridge.
“I didn’t know about the national project, just the local projects. But it’s so cool to work on a project that could bring about national change,” Muggeridge said.
Headquartered at the Cronkite School, the News21 National team partnered with the Center for Public Integrity in Washington D.C. to create investigative and in-depth multimedia stories on transportation issues plaguing the United States. It focused on the areas of fatigue, aviation, highways, maritime transportation and railways.
Ultimately, the News21 National team concluded that travel in the United States could be much safer. Gilger said this is largely because National Transportation Safety Board recommendations are taking longer and longer to implement.
Cronkite School Dean and National Project Faculty Adviser Christopher Callahan said this had the potential to be “one of the largest journalism projects ever distributed by a journalism school.”
Students were paid full time for the summer project, but they often worked more than 40 hours per week. They were also given a travel budget of $2,500 per student that allowed them to report on the site of relevant events. Destinations included Canada, Mexico, Washington state, Washington D.C., and Kentucky.
The project was advised and edited by Callahan, Gilger and the Cronkite School’s Weil Family Professor of Journalism, Leonard Downie Jr.
“I really enjoyed (my role as faculty advisor),” Downie Jr. said. “My career has been devoted to accountability journalism, and News21 is about that. It’s a significant body of journalism.”
Initially, to fund the Carnegie-Knight News21 Initiative, the Cronkite School received a $7.5 million grant. It is the largest grant in the history of the school according to the Cronkite School’s website.
“It’s supposed to change how journalism is taught at universities,” Gilger said.
Consequently, News21 has taken two forms. The News21 national project, this year focusing on transportation issues, is one part, and the other is local projects conducted by the participating universities.
Currently, one student from each of the participating schools works on the National project while nine others work on the individual local projects. The number of total students sent is smaller for associate schools such as the University of Missouri.
Next summer the format will change. The News21 national project will be conducted by ten students from ASU, ten from University of Maryland and three to four from University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and the subject will be food safety. Other participating universities of News21 will continue working on local projects.
To explore the News21 National project, visit http://national.news21.com.
Contact the reporter at crcruz1@asu.edu
