The National News21 Program

The nationally acclaimed Carnegie-Knight News21 program, created by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, is open to all accredited journalism schools in the U.S.

How It Works:

During the spring semester, students take part in:

  • An Issues Seminar. Approved fellows from participating universities take part in a weekly issues seminar in the spring semester taught by Professor Leonard Downie Jr., the school’s Weil Family Professor of Journalism and former executive editor of The Washington Post. The seminar immerses students in the topic to be investigated by News21 in the summer. Fellows may participate in the spring seminar via videoconference for credit or may monitor the course without enrolling. However, all fellows must fully participate and complete all work to Professor Downie’s satisfaction. The next seminar will begin Jan. 7, 2013 and conclude April 30.
  • An Accountability Journalism class. News21 fellows also may elect to participate via videoconference in Professor Downie’s weekly Accountability Journalism class during the spring semester. This is optional but strongly encouraged.

During the summer, fellows work out of a Cronkite School digital newsroom for 10 weeks, typically beginning in mid to late May and ending in late July or early August. Fellows receive a stipend of $7,500 for their work and $2,500 each in travel expenses. Fellows work under a team of journalism leaders that include:

  • An Executive Editor to be named. Previous projects have been led by Sharon Rosenhause, former managing editor of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, and Kristin Gilger, Cronkite’s associate dean and former deputy managing editor for news at The Arizona Republic.
  • Digital Editor. Retha Hill, the former vice president for digital at BET, a founding editor of washingtonpost.com and the current director of Cronkite’s Digital Media Innovation and Entrepreneurship Lab, is the newsroom’s digital leader, collaborating with students on how to best tell their investigative stories in innovative and compelling ways on multiple platforms.
  • Editorial Consultant. Downie provides regular consulting to the newsroom from Phoenix and Washington.
  • Computer-Assisted Reporting Editor. Steve Doig, a Pulitzer Prize-winning computer-assisted reporting specialist at The Miami Herald who now serves as the Knight Chair in Journalism at Cronkite, provides data expertise and support to the News21 fellows.
  • Technology Director. Nic Lindh, the Cronkite School’s technologist in residence, supervises digital content for the project and assists students with technology needs.
  • Web Developer. Micah Jamison, chief Web developer for the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Lab, works with fellows throughout the summer to help operationalize their digital visions and innovations.
  • Copy Editor. Cronkite News Service Washington bureau director Steve Crane, a longtime Washington editor and former University of Maryland assistant dean.
  • Oversight. Associate Dean Kristin Gilger, former deputy managing editor of The Arizona Republic, provides administrative oversight.

How to Apply:

All program costs are covered except salary and travel stipends for individual fellows. The latter costs are to be covered by the participating schools. To apply, schools should:

  • Submit a letter of nomination from the program dean or director by Nov. 1. Nominees should be top journalism students (graduate or advanced undergraduates) who have completed intermediate- and advanced-level reporting courses and a fundamental multimedia journalism course. The nomination letter from the dean’s or director’s office should vouch for the applicant(s) and include contact information and links to portfolios or work samples. Fellows nominated by their schools are subject to final approval by News21.
  • Commit to providing $10,000 for each fellow’s salary and travel. Salaries can be paid directly to the fellows by the schools or through ASU; travel stipends must be paid to ASU in advance. Development note: Naming opportunities exist for schools that use external funds – either new or existing – for fellowship support (i.e., the Jane Smith News21 Fellow or the Jones Corp. News21 Fellow). This will appear within the credit lines for the fellow’s work.
  • Schools may submit applications for multiple fellows. Recent fellows have come from a dozen journalism schools, including Arizona State University, Elon University, Harvard University, Syracuse University. University of Florida, University of Maryland, University of Missouri, University of Nebraska, University of Oklahoma, University of Oregon, University of North Carolina and University of Texas.

The Cronkite School will notify schools of approval of their fellows by Nov. 30.

Housing will not be provided, but university dormitory housing is available on ASU’s downtown Phoenix campus next to Cronkite building.

Benefits

The benefits of News21 to the fellows are proven: Students receive an unparalleled experience working one-on-one with some of the best journalism minds in the country on in-depth and digitally innovative projects and receive unprecedented national distribution and recognition of their work. Past News21 fellows have an employment placement record – both qualitatively and quantitatively – that is far superior to both the national averages and the placements of peers within their institutions.

The benefit to participating schools is equally striking. The News21 program, with its focus on depth and innovation, experiential learning and important national projects, has permeated throughout the 12 original News21 schools. Those deans and directors report a dramatic transformation of their curricula in recent years, due in large part to the lessons learned in News21.

For More Information:

Contact Cronkite Associate Dean Kristin Gilger at kristin.gilger@asu.edu or 602.496.9448.