Expert Commentary

Carnegie-Knight Initiative

The Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, part of the Harvard Kennedy School, participates in an initiative funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The two foundations joined together with five, then nine and now 11 universities to develop a vision of what a journalism school can be at an institution of higher education.

The Carnegie-Knight Initiative on the Future of Journalism Education has three parts:

  • A curriculum enrichment effort to deepen the journalism education
  • News21, an innovative news reporting project for students that builds on intensive content-based coursework
  • The Carnegie-Knight Task Force, which is the research arm of the Initiative, based at the Shorenstein Center

In addition to Journalist’s Resource, the Task Force has produced five reports on journalism and journalism education. These include: “Journalism School Curriculum Enrichment” and the “2011 Report on the Carnegie-Knight Initiative on the Future of Journalism Education.”

The Task Force also coordinates group efforts by the deans to speak out on public policy issues affecting journalism and journalism education. Most recently, this included a research-oriented effort to chart the future of public interest journalism. And it has also included a New York Times article on the impact of FCC regulations on local reporting, and a Washington Post article taking on the issue of government secrecy and the press.

Partner schools:

Annenberg School of Journalism
University of Southern California, Los Angeles

College of Communication, University of Texas
Austin, Texas

College of Journalism and Mass Communication
University of Nebraska, Lincoln

Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University
New York, N.Y.

Graduate School of Journalism, University of California
Berkeley, California

Medill School, Northwestern University
Evanston, Illinois

Missouri School of Journalism
University of Missouri, Columbia

Philip Merrill College of Journalism
University of Maryland, College Park

S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications
Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York

UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

ASU Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication
Arizona State University, Tempe