Cronkite School of Journalism: This Just In

Although it's entirely unclear where professional journalism is going, it seems obvious enough where the next professional journalists will come from. That would be a program like the one at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications - Arizona State University, where a new generation of media proficient reporters are learning to write, shoot, edit, and broadcast their own stories using a tapeless HD workflow anchored by more than 500 Mac computers running Final Cut Studio and Xsan.

The school’s new 225,000 sq. ft., six-story, $71 million state-of-the-art structure in downtown Phoenix is matched by an enviable technology infrastructure and forward-looking curriculum. All are the result of a massive institutional restart begun in 2005 — the year the journalism program became an independent school — inspired chiefly by Cronkite Dean Christopher Callahan’s vision of creating the “preeminent professional journalism program in the country.”

“Curriculum and the technology are blending more and more in the digital world,” says Callahan, himself a career newspaperman before turning to academia. “So we’re teaching students not just the traditional values of journalism, getting stories right and telling stories well, but doing that in very flexible ways, on multiple platforms, from different locations. In large part because of the technology, we’re able to teach not just for today but for the future.”

While Cronkite’s educational goals lean into the future, the new building also makes a strong connection with journalism’s past. The walls are glass, wherever possible, underlining the critical principle of journalistic transparency. A theme introduced in an open three-level atrium called the First Amendment Forum echoes through the school in the 45 words of the First Amendment, written floor-to-ceiling on all six levels. And each Mac, from the atrium through the 14 digital newsrooms to the 2 TV studios — including more than 300 in the digital computer labs — carries the same full complement of professional applications, including Final Cut Pro. This guarantees that each student gets free and easy access to all available technology.

Mission Critical Curriculum

"The mission is pretty basic," says Mark Lodato, News Director for Cronkite’s award-winning live newscast and former investigative television reporter. "We want to make sure that our students, while maintaining the core values of good journalism, also have the technical skills they need to not only survive but excel in today’s workplace, which is constantly changing. That means that they need to be able to do it all and adapt to any kind of platform once they walk out the door."

The path to that door at Cronkite is different than at most other journalism schools. "Online media is a part of our core curriculum; it’s a required course,” says Lodato. “Come to Cronkite and you’ll know how to produce content for the web. Even our so-called print students learn to shoot video and edit on Final Cut Pro.”

As the first students of the new program enter the job market, the school is already seeing results. “Even in this terrible economy, our students are doing very well in terms of placement because they have the whole package, so they’re incredibly marketable,” says Callahan. In part because of that marketability, freshman admissions to the Cronkite School are up 50 percent from last year.