The Knight Center for the Future of News is on a mission to envision and accelerate a better future for the news industry. It works to reimagine and strengthen the information ecosystem by democratizing research and development—turning insight into action, bridging academia and industry and sharing knowledge widely to drive innovation. By including real people and true partners, we focus on accelerating progress through real life application.
Move fast, make a difference.
Journalism is at an inflection point. Artificial intelligence is reshaping how news is created, distributed and consumed. Trust is under significant strain. Business models are fragile or altogether broken. The threats facing independent and local newsrooms are accelerating. This moment calls for speed, clarity and bold experimentation.
The Knight Center for the Future of News at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication exists to meet the moment. Supported by a visionary investment from Knight Foundation and the ASU Foundation and driven by ASU's ethos of principled innovation, the center is boldly accelerating journalism's transformation.
Anchored by three dynamic focus areas, the center connects journalists, technologists, scholars and industry leaders to generate novel research, test ideas in real-world settings and share what is working to help accelerate meaningful, lasting transformation across the news ecosystem.
Read The Year Ahead: 2026-2027 Plan to find out what initiatives, applied research and projects are underway or in the planning process for the current academic year.
