Journalism students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will have the opportunity to participate in what the school describes as “experimental” projects thanks to a $250,000 grant from the Carnegie-Knight Initiative on the Future of Journalism Education.
As newspapers and other news operations across the world lay off staff or struggle in attempts to deal with a world of changing readers and viewers, the Carnegie-Knight group is encouraging schools to “adapt” their programs in training future journalists.
The three-year program will include 10 other journalism schools. UNC will match the funding, the school said.
“Today’s journalists must be steeped in experience and deeply knowledgeable about the subjects they report on,” said Vartan Gregorian, president of Carnegie Corp.
Carnegie is teaming with the James L. Knight Foundation for the program.
“Carnegie and Knight are playing a key role in extending our students’ international experiences,” said Jean Folkerts, dean of the UNC journalism school. “Today’s students simply must engage in the global environment.”
UNC works with universities in Mexico, China, Spain and France already and will seek relationships with others in Africa, South America and the United Kingdom as well as others, Folkerts said.
Also receiving grants were Arizona State, Columbia, Northwestern, Syracuse, California-Berkley, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska-Lincoln, Southern California and Texas-Austin.
UNC plans to use a portion of the funds to support some efforts already underway, including a project documenting the Latino population in North Carolina and “News 21,” an online news incubator.
