Last Updated: November 13, 2000
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RESTON, Va. — A $1,005,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
to the American Society of Newspaper Editors will provide for the continued support
of a program forging stronger ties between newsrooms and journalism higher education.
The three-year grant will fund the Institute for Journalism Excellence, the heart
of which is a six-week summer newsroom residency for 20 educators who will be
immersed in the day-to-day excitement of putting out a newspaper.
The Institute for Journalism Excellence pays a $5,500 stipend, (including a
$450-a-week salary from the newspaper), plus housing and travel.
To date, more than 100 journalism educators from around the country have participated
in the program, gaining significant insights into daily newspapering and becoming
more confident teachers as a result. The program, initiated by ASNE in 1995,
has been funded by Knight Foundation since its inception.
“The Institute for Journalism Excellence plays a vital role in strengthening
the ties between those who teach journalism and those who practice it,” said
Hodding Carter III, president and CEO of Knight Foundation.
ASNE President Richard A. Oppel, editor of the Austin (Texas) American-Statesman,
noted that the program is rewarding for both the educators and the newspapers
that hire them for summer jobs. “Educators return to their classrooms with a
fresh perspective on newsroom operations while their newsroom colleagues gain
a greater understanding of and support for journalism training.”
The 2001 Institute includes a weeklong seminar at the American Press Institute
and a debriefing session in Washington, D.C. just before the Association for
Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) convention.
ASNE Fellows have worked as reporters, copy editors, graphic artists, designers
and photographers. They have been engaged in investigative teams, computer-assisted
projects, online products and other challenging assignments.
Click here for additional information
and applications for the 2001 Institute. The deadline to apply is November
27, 2000.
Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2000, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
makes national grants in journalism, education and arts and culture. Its fourth
program, community initiatives, is concentrated in 26 communities where the
Knight brothers published newspapers, but the Foundation is wholly separate
from and independent of those newspapers.
ASNE, founded in 1922, with nearly 900 members, is the main organization of
the directing editors of daily newspapers in the Americas. The organization
is leading efforts to increase diversity in America’s newsrooms, bolster media
credibility and improve high school journalism.
