ASU hosts journalism entrepreneurship institute for second year

Journalism professors from around the country will learn about teaching entrepreneurship at the second annual Scripps Howard Journalism Entrepreneurship Institute at Arizona State University in January.

The institute will bring 12 leading educators to the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication for interactive workshops and seminars that will equip professors with the necessary expertise to infuse journalism entrepreneurship into their own academic programs.

The five-day program is made possible by a grant from the Scripps Howard Foundation, the philanthropic arm of The E. W. Scripps Company, a media corporation that operates 19 television stations and 13 newspapers as well as Washington-based Scripps Howard News Service and worldwide syndication company United Media. The foundation supports efforts that promote excellence in journalism and further journalism education and professional development.

“This will be the second year for the Scripps Howard Journalism Entrepreneurship Institute at ASU,” said Mike Philipps, president and CEO of the Scripps Howard Foundation. “We were so impressed by what ASU accomplished last year that we wanted to continue the program.

“It is critical that we create a generation of journalists with both the core values of journalism and the entrepreneurial spirit needed to reinvent our industry. In order to do that, we need to provide faculty from around the nation with the skills and experience to motivate and challenge their students to become newsroom entrepreneurs.”

Dan Gillmor, director of the Knight Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship at the Cronkite School, will be the primary instructor for the program. He will be joined by entrepreneurs, investors and other Cronkite faculty in teaching the 12 fellows.

The Knight Center helps journalism students become savvy in digital media technologies and develop entrepreneurial skills appropriate to the new media marketplace. It won the ASU President’s Award for Innovation in 2010, and several of its students have won grants to launch projects they conceived in the lab.

“Tomorrow's journalists will need to understand – and in many cases be part of – the startup culture,” Gillmor said. “Embedding it in journalism education is one way to make that happen, and we're grateful that the Scripps Howard Foundation agrees.”

The Scripps Howard Journalism Entrepreneurship Institute will be held Jan. 2-6, 2013. Training, transportation, lodging, materials and meals will be provided.

To apply for the institute, go to https://cronkite.asu.edu/scripps2012.