Meredith-Cronkite Fellowship Program

The Meredith Corp. and its Phoenix television station, KPHO CBS 5, sponsor a week-long fellowship program for top minority broadcast journalism students at the Cronkite School and around the country.

The students spent a week each January – during most schools’ winter break – working in the CBS 5 newsroom with KPHO reporters, producers, editors and videographers and instructors from the Cronkite School. The program is led by Mark Lodato, the Cronkite School’s TV news director and a former investigative reporter at CBS 5, and CBS 5 news director Tom Bell.

Meredith-Cronkite Fellows receive hands-on experience creating news packages and producing a 30-minute broadcast on deadline while learning about newsroom ethics and leadership. Specific sessions include:

How to get your first job — tips from news directors and recent grads
Secrets of producing a top-flight audition tape
Live reporting 101
Three things that will make you the No. 1 reporter at your station
How to craft exceptional news packages
Developing and pitching winning story ideas
Perfecting your voice-over skills
Problems in the field — and how good reporters work around them
Photographers: the other half of your team
Real world broadcast ethics: What would you do?
Broadcast law: Why saying bad things about people can get you (and your station) in trouble
One-on-one mentoring and career advice from the pros

About 12 fellows are selected each year in a competitive process, half from the Cronkite School and half from other schools around the country. Students leave with a highly polished newscast from KPHO’s studios.

Students from universities outside of the region each receive a $2,000 stipend to cover expenses. Cronkite students receive a $500 stipend.

The inaugural program, held in January 2007, included students from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Maryland at College Park, Howard University, Bowling Green State University and the University of Memphis in addition to Arizona State University.

“My experience was incredible,” Alex Villarreal of the University of North Carolina wrote in her evaluation of the first program. “I received a constant flow of advice, encouragement and even some constructive criticism that I know will serve to make me a better journalist.”

Paul Karpowicz, president of Meredith’s Broadcast Group, said the program gives promising broadcast journalism students a major market experience while allowing Meredith “to preview talented students for possible work at our 14 broadcast stations.”

Steve Hammel, KPHO vice president and general manager and creator of the program, said the fellowship gives participants “the clear edge when they compete for their first jobs.”

Meredith Corp. is one of the nation's leading media and marketing companies, with holdings in magazine and book publishing, television broadcasting, integrated marketing and interactive media. Meredith owns 14 television stations that reach nearly 10 percent of TV households across the country. In addition to CBS 5 in Phoenix, Meredith owns WGCL-TV (CBS), Atlanta; KPTV (FOX) and KPDX-TV (UPN), Portland, Ore.; WFSB-TV (CBS), Hartford-New Haven, Conn.; WSMV-TV (NBC), Nashville, Tenn.; KCTV (CBS) and KSMO (WB), Kansas City; WHNS-TV (FOX), Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, S.C.-Asheville, N.C.; WNEM-TV (CBS), Flint-Saginaw, Mich.; KVVU-TV (FOX), Las Vegas; WFLI-TV (WB), Chattanooga, Tenn.; WSHM, (CBS) Springfield, Mass.; and KFXO-CA (FOX), Bend, Ore.

Meredith-Cronkite Fellowship Program

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