PRINCETON, N.J. — The board of directors of the Dow Jones News Fund has approved $462,350 in grants and operating expenses for the Fund’s 2015 programs that include professional internships this summer for college students, digital training for journalism professors and workshops for high school students.
The News Fund increased funding for educational programs that focus on innovative advancements in the modern newsroom. The budget provides $5,000 for The Society for News Design’s #SNDMakes program to bring more students together with designers, programmers and journalists to work on how to tell better picture stories.
It also includes $50,000 for training programs in digital media for faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and at institutions with large Hispanic enrollments. These will again be held at Western Kentucky University directed by Dr. Pam Johnson and at the University of Texas at El Paso under the direction of Professor Zita Arocha.
Richard J. Levine, president of the News Fund, said, “These grants will help ensure that the next generation of journalists will possess the skills required to perform successfully in the rapidly changing newsrooms of the digital age.”
“As we explore ways to help prepare students for media careers, these funding priorities address our core mission with an eye to the ever-evolving digital future,” said Linda Shockley, managing director.
COLLEGE PROGRAMS – $300,000
The News Fund expects to train more than 90 college juniors, seniors and graduate students to work as digital journalists, business reporters and news and sports editors. Intern travel, operating costs and $1,000 scholarships for successful interns have been allocated for the program. The news editing training centers will be at Temple University, Philadelphia, directed by Dr. Edward Trayes; the University of Texas at Austin, directed by Beth Butler; the University of Missouri, Columbia, directed by Brian Brooks, and the Pennsylvania State University, State College, directed by John Dillon. Dr. Charlyne Berens will direct the sports editing center at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Digital interns will be trained at the Cronkite School of Journalism, Arizona State University, Phoenix, directed by Michael Wong. Will Sutton, journalism professor at Grambling (La.) State University, will lead the business reporting program at New York University’s Arthur Carter Journalism Institute.
HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT PROGRAMS – $130,000
The Summer High School Journalism Program supports 21 workshops that will train more than 400 high school students. In identifying which programs to support, the News Fund prioritized innovative programs with diverse populations in large urban areas. Workshop funding was provided to the following organizations: California Chicano News Media Association, Mosaic/San Jose, Calif.; Columbia College of Chicago; Eastern Illinois University/Illinois Press Foundation, Charleston; University of Miami; Marquette University, Milwaukee; New York University; Princeton University Summer Journalism Program; New England High School Journalism Collaborative, Boston; Connecticut Health Investigative Team; J-Camp, Asian American Journalists Association; University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa; University of Arizona, Tucson; Arizona State University, Phoenix; University of Missouri, Columbia; University of Texas at El Paso; Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green; ThreeSixty Journalism Intermediate Camp, St. Paul, Minn.; University of North Texas Mayborn School of Journalism, Denton; University of Southern Mississippi, Gulfport; Oklahoma Institute for Diversity in Journalism at Gaylord College, University of Oklahoma; and Temple University, Philadelphia. Up to eight students will be awarded $1,000 college scholarships for the best writing, photography and multimedia package produced in the 2015 summer high school journalism workshops.
HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER PROGRAMS – $10,000
Our signature National High School Journalism Teacher of the Year program was allotted $3,000 for scholarships, to be awarded to students of the five high school journalism teachers chosen as best in 2015. An additional $7,000 was granted to promote the program through travel and speaking engagements for the Teacher of the Year at news industry, scholastic and academic conferences. The program will receive in-kind support from the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, the Columbia Scholastic Press Association and The Wall Street Journal. The postmark deadline for teachers to apply is July 9.
GENERAL OPERATING EXPENSES AND CAREER INFORMATION – $22,350
More than 6,000 high school journalism teachers, college professors and media professionals receive Adviser Update, the free quarterly newspaper on journalism education and major media issue. Adviser Update is printed on the presses of The Wall Street Journal and covers central issues in scholastic journalism from technology to the First Amendment.
