ABC News partners with Cronkite School

ABC News has announced the launch of ABC News on Campus, a partnership with ASU and four other top journalism schools across the country to educate and mentor talented college students.

The network’s news division will create five on-campus multimedia bureaus that will open in September. The bureaus will provide an opportunity for students to report on stories in their region and produce a wide array of content for ABC News’ various digital and broadcast platforms, including “Good Morning America,” “World News with Charles Gibson,” “Nightline,” “ABC News NOW,” ABCNEWS.com, mtvU, ABC News Radio and NewsOne.

“These college digital bureaus will extend the news-gathering reach of ABC News throughout the country,” says David Westin, ABC News’ president. “In addition, they will enable us to nurture bright young journalism students, giving them hands-on training from some of the most seasoned news professionals in the business and opportunities to see their work appear on ABC News platforms.”

In addition to ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, the other partner schools are Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications; the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications; the University of North Carolina’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication; and the College of Communication at the University of Texas.

Whether students are responding to breaking news or creating daily original content, the ABC News on Campus initiative will provide unique insight into what America’s 33 million 18- to 25-year-olds are thinking. Student participants primarily will consist of upper-class undergraduate and graduate students who are selected by ABC News and the respective colleges.

John Green, ABC News’ executive producer of special programming and development, will supervise and manage the program with Sandy Sidey, director of executive projects, and a team at ABC News headquarters in New York. Each bureau will receive extensive training, including on-site mentoring with the student bureau chiefs and faculty liaisons at ABC News headquarters twice yearly. Representatives from ABC News also will travel to all five campuses for ABC News information sessions.

The ABC program at the Cronkite School will be based at the school’s new six-story, $71 million complex in downtown Phoenix. The building will open in August.

“We’re thrilled to be working with ABC News on this exciting and innovative program,” says Christopher Callahan, dean of the Cronkite School. “The ABC News program is truly a win-win proposition. The student journalists will enjoy unparalleled opportunities by working with one of the world’s leading news organizations, and ABC will receive smart, original content from some of the nation’s great young journalists. We are honored to be participating.”

Sue Green, a former managing editor of ABC15 in Phoenix who directs the broadcast operations of Cronkite News Service at the Cronkite School, will serve as the faculty liaison.