MediaStorm founder to be visiting Cronkite professor

Brian Storm, a leading figure in digital storytelling and founder of the multimedia production studio MediaStorm, will be a visiting professor at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University next semester.

While at Cronkite, Storm will work with students in the school’s professional multimedia programs, including the Carnegie-Knight News21 initiative, the Knight Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship, the New Media Innovation Lab and Cronkite News. He also will work with individual faculty members, graduate students and seniors in advanced digital classes.

“The Cronkite School is already a global leader in digital media, and Brian’s tremendous skills, vision and passion will help us build on that great foundation,” said Cronkite Dean Christopher Callahan. “We had the opportunity to bring a visiting professor here for a semester, and Brian Storm was everyone’s first choice. We’re thrilled he’ll be part of the Cronkite team.”

The award-winning MediaStorm production studio creates “cinematic narratives that speak to the heart of the human condition.

Prior to his work at MediaStorm, Storm served as vice president of Bill Gates-owned photo agency Corbis for two years, directing and assigning photographers on multimedia collections. This role was preceded by seven years as MSNBC.com’s first multimedia director. He originally launched MediaStorm in 1994.

“I’m thrilled to be part of the Cronkite School’s educational efforts, poised as it is at the forefront of new media innovation,” Storm said. “While at Cronkite, I look forward to collaborating with faculty and mentoring the next generation of journalists in leading-edge multimedia storytelling techniques.”

Storm graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a master’s degree in photojournalism in 1995. He also ran the school’s New Media Lab and taught electronic photojournalism.

He is a member of the advisory boards of Pictures of the Year and the Journalism School at Brooks Institute. He has judged the Pictures of the Year contest at University of Missouri-Columbia and the Best of Photojournalism contest of the National Press Photographers Association.