Crutchfield takes over as student media director
Crutchfield joined the Cronkite School this semester as the first Edith Kinney Gaylord Visiting Professor in Journalism Ethics after spending the previous five years as publisher and president of the Akron Beacon Journal. He stepped down from that position last year following the sale of Knight Ridder Newspapers.
Crutchfield, 58, a four-time Pulitzer Prize juror, was one of the few African-Americans to serve as publisher of a major metropolitan daily newspaper.
In the new joint appointment, Crutchfield will oversee the student media department, which operates the following:
• The State Press, the university's independent student newspaper with a daily distribution of 17,000.
• The weekly State Press Magazine.
• ASU Web Devil, the online arm of the State Press.
• Channel 2, a cable station that airs on campus.
“We are extremely fortunate to have attracted the interest of Jim Crutchfield to student media,” says James Rund, vice president for university student initiatives, which oversees student media. “The expert skill set, industry experience and professional wisdom that Jim brings can position us as one of the best student media centers in the country.”
At the Cronkite School, Crutchfield will hold the rank of professor of practice and Weil Family Professor of Journalism. The endowed professorship is named in honor of Louis “Chip” Weil, the former publisher of the Arizona Republic and chairman and chief executive officer of Central Newspapers Inc.
Weil created the endowed professorship through a generous gift in an effort to support “outstanding faculty who will impact the country's future journalists.” He retired in 2000 after a career that also included publisher of Time magazine and the Detroit News.
Crutchfield will complete his one-semester term as the school's first Edith Kinney Gaylord Visiting Professor in Journalism Ethics. He is teaching “Journalism Ethics and Diversity,” a new undergraduate course required of Cronkite students. The professorship was created in honor of Gaylord through a grant from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, which she founded in 1982 to improve the quality and ethical standards of journalism.
“Jim Crutchfield has been a top leader and innovator in the news industry for many years, and he will do a spectacular job imparting Chip Weil's high journalistic values to the next generation of America's journalists,” says Christopher Callahan, dean of the Cronkite School. “Jim also will make the State Press, the Web Devil and Channel 2 incubators for great ideas and innovations that will help all of journalism.”
Crutchfield replaces Kristin Gilger at student media, who stepped down to become assistant dean for professional programs at the Cronkite School .
Crutchfield is a graduate of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.