FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 18, 2011

Contact: Houda Elyazgi

helyazgi@saxum.com

(Office) 405.605.2003 or (Cell) 405.474.5789

 

Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation

announces $1.6 million in awards

Grants will fund projects at 21 journalism organizations nationwide

 

OKLAHOMA CITY - Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation (EEJF) today announced the distribution of more than $1.6 million in grants to 21 journalism organizations nationwide.

 

Founded by Edith Kinney Gaylord, Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation’s mission is to invest in the future of journalism by building the ethics, skills and opportunities needed to advance principled, probing news and information.

 

"At EEJF, our mission is to invest in the future of journalism by supporting organizations around the nation who produce principled, probing news and information," said Bob Ross, president and CEO of Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation. "We strive to partner with organizations that are entrepreneurial in spirit and we are proud to partner with all of our current grant recipients, each displaying this type of innovation."

 

The following grants were awarded to organizations for projects addressing the foundation's core areas of focus:

 

Investigative Reporting

• $150,000 to Arizona State University (ASU) for News21, providing fellowships for advanced journalism students at the University of Oklahoma's Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication and ASU's Cronkite School. News21 is a collaborative newsroom experience under the guidance of top journalism professionals.

 

• $100,000 to Centro de Periodismo Investigativo for permanent core staff to produce high impact investigations and in-depth reporting in Puerto Rico and in the U.S. in collaboration with fellow organizations and mainstream media outlets.

 

• $100,000 to the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting (FCIR) for investigative journalism in the public interest. FCIR is a bilingual and digital investigative news organization focusing on corruption and waste in Florida's government.

 

• $100,000 to Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting for website expansion, to make effective use of new technology and social networking tools and to build a wider base of financial support.

 

• $100,000 to the Online Journalism Project for the Connecticut Health Investigative Team (C-HIT), an online news service that produces investigative stories on health and safety and provides searchable databases that gather important information on health care providers from state regulatory agencies.

 

• $100,000 to The Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism for start-up support of IowaWatch.org. IowaWatch emphasizes investigative reporting, transparency, high ethics, collaboration with new outlets, mentoring of student journalists and distribution of content.

 

• $100,000 to Watchdog Institute for data-driven investigative journalism in Southern California and the development of a financial model that relies on diverse revenue streams.

 

• $75,000 to Boston University's New England Center for Investigative Reporting (NECIR) to expand the capacity of Public Eye, a subscription service that offers investigative stories and training to small news outlets in Massachusetts. NECIR is an investigative reporting newsroom, training center and journalism laboratory.

 

• $50,000 to MarylandReporter.com for in-depth coverage of Maryland state government and politics and to expand capacity by giving those who plan on entering journalism as a career real-world experience in investigative reporting supervised by veteran journalists.

 

• $50,000 to Capitol News Connection to provide localized and interactive issue-focused investigative reporting from Congress to community public radio stations seeking in-depth coverage and to work with partners to enhance multimedia offerings and digital delivery systems.

Professional Development

 

• $90,000 to the Institute for Justice and Journalism for Immigration in the Heartland, a week-long fellowship program in partnership with the University of Oklahoma's Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication, focusing on immigration as an election-year issue as well as on the expanding population of immigrants and their families as a force affecting politics and the community.

 

• $75,000 to American University for J-Lab, an incubator for hyper local news entrepreneurs, to train journalists and citizens to use digital technologies and to convene a summit for new journalism school news initiatives from which a best-practices online learning module will be created.

 

• $70,000 to the University of California, Berkeley for a multimedia training program that provides professional journalists with the skills needed to produce high-quality, in-depth and engaging multimedia projects.

 

• $25,000 to the Associated Press Managing Editors Association Foundation for NewsTrain, a traveling training program designed for frontline editors and reporters, to provide more sessions on the road and to branch into online training.

 

• $25,000 to the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism (WCIJ) to assist other centers through advising on ethics, transparency and business practices. WCIJ has created a replicable model for collaborative local investigative journalism that is being duplicated across the country.

 

Youth Education

 

• $60,000 to Youth News Service Los Angeles Bureau to support the development of a series of articles written by student staff on the State of California's budget, process, stakeholders and its impact on schools, libraries, parks, police departments and youth-serving organizations.

 

• $50,000 to the Oklahoma Newspaper Foundation for a college journalism internship program, providing student salaries during the summer 2012 internship period for community newspapers that have very limited budgets.

 

Special Opportunities

 

• $134,000 to George Washington University for Kalb Report, an educational series that explores evolving roles and responsibilities of the media. Forums are held at the National Press Club and moderated by journalist/scholar Marvin Kalb. The theme for 2011-12 is Global Press Freedom.

 

• $84,000 to the Student Press Law Center for the Attorney Advocate program, enabling high school and college students and educators to obtain free legal help with issues about censorship, copyright and other media law questions.

 

• $75,000 to iFOCOS for the PitchIt Challenge, a competition that provides early support for innovative ideas in media and technology. iFOCOS works to improve the human experience through creative uses of the Internet, mobile networks, digital media and communication technologies.

 

• $70,000 to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press for a legal fellowship to assist reporters with issues involving libel, privacy and reporter's privilege issues.

 

To learn more about Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, visit www.journalismfoundation.org or call (405) 604-5388.

 

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