Carnegie-Knight Initiative

UNC journalism school selected for education initiative
funded by Carnegie Corp. and Knight Foundation

The Carnegie Corporation of New York and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation selected the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media to join 10 other top journalism schools for an initiative to adapt journalism education to the challenges of a struggling news industry.
 
With an initial $250,000 grant to Carolina, the Carnegie-Knight Initiative on the Future of Journalism Education encourages experimental journalism projects, curriculum enhancement and collaboration with other academic disciplines and institutions. The journalism school is building international partnerships, providing students with global perspectives on journalism.

Carnegie president Vartan Gregorian said well-informed, bold journalists are central to a fully-functioning democracy.  “Today’s journalists must be steeped in experience and deeply knowledgeable about the subjects they report on,” said Gregorian.

Knight Foundation president and CEO Alberto Ibargüen said today’s journalists must deliver reliable information using multiple platforms and new technologies – and journalism education can train them to do that. “In that sense, journalism schools have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to lead the industry,” he said.

“Carnegie and Knight are playing a key role in extending our students’ international experiences,” said Jean Folkerts, dean of the school. “Today’s students simply must engage in the global environment.”

The school has established partnerships with universities in Mexico, China, Spain and France. The initiative strengthens those connections and helps create new ties with universities in Africa, South America, England and other regions.

“We are reaching out internationally, and we are learning to recognize and address the international angles in local issues,” said Folkerts.

The Carnegie-Knight Initiative supports the school’s year-long project to document the growing Latino population in North Carolina. Carolina del Norte (cdn.jomc.unc.edu) features student work that is available for republication by the state’s news organizations.

The school is expanding undergraduate research through the initiative. Newly appointed Richard Cole Eminent Professor Dan Riffe is collaborating with the Odum Institute for Research in Social Science to create a survey research course to conduct public opinion polling in North Carolina. The school also will use the grant to build on interdisciplinary programs in media law and policy, and digital media economics.

These interdisciplinary and international programs will be complemented by Carolina’s participation in News21, an experimental, online news incubator. With supplementary funding, News21 gives students from the partner schools the opportunity to undertake national reporting projects that seek to change the media landscape with innovative approaches to creating and distributing news.

The UNC Office of the Chancellor has agreed to match the Carnegie and Knight grants, pledging support for the third and final year of the initiative.

The Carnegie-Knight Initiative was launched in 2005 with Gregorian’s vision of building globally-minded programs at exemplary journalism schools – a goal shared by the Knight Foundation. The effort encourages experimentation within journalism education and the integration of other programs within the university community. In addition to Carolina, multi-year grants were awarded to:

Arizona State University
Columbia University
Northwestern University
Syracuse University
University of California at Berkeley
University of Maryland
University of Missouri
University of Nebraska, Lincoln
University of Southern California
University of Texas at Austin

The Joan Shorenstein Center for Press, Politics and Public Policy, a research center at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, also is supported by the initiative.

The Carnegie Corporation of New York was created by Carnegie Steel Company owner Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding. For more than 95 years, the grant-making corporation has carried out Carnegie’s vision of philanthropy by building on his two major concerns: international peace and advancing education and knowledge.

Since 1950, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has promoted journalism excellence worldwide and invested in the vitality of the U.S. communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. The Knight Foundation focuses on ideas and projects that create transformational change.