<p>At a time when journalism has been rocked by scandals and is reeling from the competitive pressures of round-the-clock news coverage, five major research universities and two national foundations are scheduled to unveil today a plan to revitalize journalism education. </p>
<p>Under the plan, which will be announced at a news conference this morning, journalism schools will be more fully integrated into their universities. In so doing, the participants say, students will get more specialized expertise in the complex subjects they will cover, and a stronger grounding in ethics. </p>
<p>Students will also gain more hands-on experience through internships with news organizations and on-campus “incubators” under the initiative, which is to be led by the journalism schools at Columbia University, Northwestern University, the University of California at Berkeley, and the University of Southern California. Also participating is the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. </p>
<p>The Carnegie Corporation of New York has pledged $2.4-million for the first two years of the project, and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has committed $1.7-million. The presidents of the five universities have agreed to support the program in the third year. </p>
<p>“Journalism is too important to this nation and our democracy to have the schools that educate its future leaders be anything but central to the universities in which they reside,” Vartan Gregorian, president of Carnegie Corporation, said in a written statement. </p>
<p>Among other highlights, the plan calls for: </p>
<p>Berkeley to institute new joint-degree programs with schools and departments such as law, public health, the sciences, and business. It will encourage interdisciplinary study by creating focus areas such as human-rights and international reporting, public-health reporting, and reporting on urban design and planning. </p>
<p>Southern Cal’s journalism school to start a new master’s program in science and technology reporting. </p>
<p>Columbia to recruit faculty members from other disciplines to teach alongside journalism professors to ensure that students understand the substance of complicated topics they will write about. </p>
<p>Northwestern will introduce two new undergraduate courses: “The Nexus Between the Media and the Military in Conflicts and Terrorism” and “News and Numbers: Statistics and Analytical Research for Journalists.” </p>
<p>In the spring, students will attend seminars on a topic, such as homeland security, that is common to all four journalism schools. Guest lecturers might include professors from the law or international schools who are experts in terrorism and security studies. </p>
<p>The topic will carry over into 10-week summer “incubators” at the four journalism schools. Ten students will be selected from each school to prepare in-depth, investigative news reports geared toward reaching new and younger audiences. A national coordinator will help find broadcast, print, and online media outlets to publish the reports. Harvard, which does not have a journalism school, will select four students to travel to one of the four journalism schools. </p>
<p>The Carnegie Corporation will also sponsor fellowships this summer for 10 students at ABC News in New York. </p>
<p>Many of the ideas reflect the recommendations of a report by McKinsey & Company, a management-consulting group. That report, which is also being released today and is based on interviews with 40 news-industry leaders, urges journalism schools to emphasize the basics of journalism, with a solid emphasis on ethics, and to help reporters develop expertise in complex beats like medicine and economics. </p>
<p>A recent poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that fewer than one in four people believed all or most of what they read in newspapers or watched on television news programs. “This unimpressive view of journalism is reflected in the academic world, where schools of journalism have never achieved the stature long enjoyed by schools that prepare students for medicine, law, architecture, business, and other careers,” the McKinsey report states. </p>
<p>“To better prepare students for the fast-paced, around-the-clock news business, some thought that journalism schools should look at the medical-school model of grueling internships and residencies,” it added. </p>
<p>Additional information about the reports, including the executive summary of the McKinsey report, are scheduled to be posted by noon today on the Web sites of the Carnegie Corporation and the Knight Foundation. </p>
<hr>
<p>Background articles from The Chronicle:
Columbia U. Names ‘New Yorker’ Writer to Head Its Journalism School (4/16/2003)</p>
<p>Editing the Mission: Columbia’s New President Wonders How a Journalism School Fits Into a Research University (8/9/2002)</p>
<p>Columbia U.'s President Halts Search for a Journalism Dean While Reviewing School’s Role (7/25/2002)</p>