PND (4/11/2000) -- Knight Foundation Announces Major Grants to Improve Journalism

The Miami-based John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has announced a $9 million grant, the largest contribution for one project ever approved by the foundation, to support the Knight International Press Fellowships over the next five years.

The Washington, D.C.-based International Center for Journalists, which has operated the program since 1993, will use the grant to continue what amounts to a "journalism Peace Corps" in fragile and emerging democracies.

"Jack Knight knew that an independent press is an indispensable part of any aspiring democracy, and from the foundation's earliest days, he made sure our philanthropic efforts supported that cause," said Hodding Carter III, president and CEO of the Miami-based Knight Foundation. "The Knight Fellows program is our premier international effort. It has been one of the best long-term investments made by Knight Foundation."

The Knight Foundation established the program in 1993 to send American journalists, news executives, and business managers on international assignments to help build a free press in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, and other parts of the world. Each year, up to 20 American media professionals are selected to serve as Knight Fellows for long-term assignments ranging in length from two to nine months. Fellows live, work, and consult with their overseas colleagues, and in the process encourage strategies and activities that promote independent media. Since 1994, the program has sent 115 fellows on 119 assignment to 73 different countries.

According to a report conducted by Dr. Lee Becker, director of the Cox Center for International Mass Communications Training and Research at the University of Georgia College of Journalism, the program is a "resounding success" and "mattered for those it was designed to serve."

The Knight Foundation has also announced a $500,000 grant to launch a major American Society of Newspaper Editors initiative to link the strengthening of high school journalism with improved diversity within the nation's newsrooms. The initial one-year grant is for the first phase of a multiyear program. Knight and ASNE hope that by building a larger group of students with firsthand experience as journalists, they can help expand the pool of prospective newsroom professionals.

Key goals of the program include the creation of a process to build newspaper and school district partnerships, the development of an educational program for journalism teachers and school newspaper advisers, and the construction of a Web site to serve journalism students and educators.

"Knight Foundation Continues Funding for ‘The Largest Private-Sector Media Assistance Program in the World.' " Knight Foundation Press Release 4/13/2000.

"American Society of Newspaper Editors, Knight Foundation Partner to Improve High School Journalism." Knight Foundation Press Release 4/13/2000.

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