Cronkite News Phoenix
Students in Cronkite News Phoenix gain valuable experience producing daily and in-depth news content on multiple platforms. We serve as the news division of Arizona PBS.
Report on Arizona’s stories
Cronkite News Phoenix students step into our state-of-the-art newsroom and hone their skills alongside more than a dozen award-winning professional journalists to produce both daily and in-depth content.
Students get a full newsroom experience—from generating unique story ideas and reporting across the Southwest to posting and producing stories across our platforms, which include television, audio, digital and social channels.
Students create important, deep and differentiated news content that reaches a wide audience. Our 30-minute newscast airs weekdays on Arizona PBS and reaches 1.9 million homes across the state in the nation’s 11th-largest media market. More than 100 outlets—newspapers, websites, newsletters, television and radio stations—regularly publish or air our students’ work.
Cronkite News emphasizes innovation, encouraging students to experiment with new tools and storytelling techniques. And we’re committed to fostering diversity and inclusion in our newsroom and in our content.
Each year, Cronkite News garners top awards in student and professional journalism competitions. Our students emerge with skills that put them in high demand for today’s rapidly changing, cross-platform newsrooms. Students go on to jobs at local television and radio stations, network and cable television, and print and digital news organizations of all sizes. They work as reporters, editors, digital producers, newscast producers, audience engagement specialists, photographers and digital video producers.
Roles in Cronkite News
Broadcast producers
Producers work with reporters and studio production staff to build a 30-minute newscast for Arizona PBS each weeknight. They work as a team to create dynamic, innovative award-winning shows.
Digital reporters
Digital reporters hone their reporting, interviewing and storytelling skills while experimenting with innovative techniques, collaborating with team members and developing multimedia skills.
Digital production and social media
Students grow their web production and design skills and gain experience with video, photo and data visualization. The team leads our social media strategy, including experimenting on TikTok and other platforms.
Visuals: Photo and video
Visual students capture still images and video content for digital and social channels. Visual students collaborate with other teams and experiment with different storytelling techniques, such as animated explainer videos.
Course Prerequisites
Students who seek to use this course as a capstone experience must complete the following prerequisites. Please direct questions to the faculty listed below, or your academic adviser.
Undergraduate: JMC 301
Undergraduate students interested in the roles below should complete the following corresponding classes as well, in addition to JMC 301.
- Broadcast reporters: JMC 330
- Newscast producers: JMC 320
- Digital/social producers: JMC 305
- Photographers/digital video producers: JMC 351/352
Graduate: MCO 502
Graduate students interested in the roles below should also complete the following corresponding classes as well, in addition to MCO 502.
- Broadcast reporters: MCO 531
- Newscast producers: MCO 521
1.9 million+ households
reached on Arizona PBS
100+ media partners
regularly publish or air Cronkite News content
300+ students
participate in Cronkite News each year
1,500+ digital stories
published on Cronkite News annually
Covering the community
Cronkite News is committed to fostering diversity and inclusion in our newsroom – and in our coverage. We track the sources we feature to evaluate whether our coverage represents our community.