Cronkite Global Initiatives

Cronkite Global Initiatives fosters meaningful connections among Cronkite students, staff and faculty and international media professionals and scholars, citizens, government and nonprofit organizations. We fulfill ASU’s charter by advancing research and discovery of public value across the world. In the past ten years, Cronkite faculty have conducted over 50 workshops in more than 35 countries.

Explore our global programs

The Cronkite School is home to the only Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship program in journalism in the United States. The State Department program, in partnership with the Institute of International Education, brings mid-career journalists and professional communicators from developing countries to the Cronkite School each year for 10 months. 

Additionally, Cronkite Global Initiatives conducts research and journalism and media training programs globally through public and private partnerships including the U.S. State Department,  American Embassies worldwide, and  USAID.  We also partner with global development and education organizations such as IREX, World Learning, Meridian House and Global Ties. 

Recent Projects

Business & Economic Journalism
Benefits of South Asia Economic Integration: A Journalism Summit (2018-2020) – Promote business and economic reporting in South Asia. Cronkite Global Initiatives partnered with the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism to train 65 journalists from six nations in South Asia. The project launched with a March 2019 multi-day conference in Dubai and later that year facilitated the organization of the South Asian Society of Economic Reporters (SASER). The purpose is to support business journalists in each of these nations:  Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. This network offers training, enables information sharing and fosters collaboration on reporting projects. Learn more about SASER.

Elections Reporting
Election Reporting in Pakistan – The Cronkite School partnered with Media Foundation 360 in Pakistan in 2017 to train journalists in election coverage reporting techniques. Funded by the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, three faculty members held on-the-ground workshops in three Pakistani cities for 75 practicing journalists and in partnership with four Pakistani universities. They developed and delivered university courses on election media coverage. Learning objectives and concepts covered included the democratic electoral processes, underscore the watchdog role of the independent media in safeguarding the freedom and fairness of elections and using specific reporting skills to enable audiences to become fully informed on candidates and platforms.  Read their project.

A similar elections reporting project was conducted in Botswana. 

Train the Trainer
Faculty research and teacher training in Pakistan – Strengthen, deepen, and internationalize the professional and scholarly contributions of the University of the Punjab’s faculty in the fields of mass communication and development studies. The Cronkite School combined with ASU’s Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict to help PU’s Institute of Social and Cultural Studies and Institute of Communication Studies, partnered on a comprehensive three-year project funded by the the U.S. State Department. The project led to the advancement in curriculum development and teaching, socially embedded research and publications, and encouraged international scholarly engagement. Twelve faculty from the PU’s ISS spent a semester embedded at the Cronkite school working alongside fellow scholars. Six Cronkite faculty traveled to Lahore to offer curriculum consultation, scholarly support and demonstrations of classroom teaching techniques.  

Refugees
Coverage of refugees in the Balkans – A collaboration between the Cronkite School including alumni of the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship. The University of Zagreb’s journalism faculty and other regional schools brought together scholars, teachers and students from several countries to implement a multi-media training and reporting project focused on the impact of the Syrian refugee crisis in the Balkans. Twenty-six students and 6 faculty members from Arizona, Albania, Croatia, Greece, Montenegro, Slovenia and Serbia produced two TV news magazines, created an online reporting portal and shared social media stories. Learn more about the project.

Disinformation and Media Literacy
Fake News and Disinformation in Croatia – Dr. Silcock and Assistant Professor Dr. Jacob Nelson’s work focuses on the changing relationship between journalists and the public. The two trained 25 young journalists from the four countries in the Balkans. The workshop consisted of “hands-on” training workshops that produced more than 15 video products-mini documentaries, tv stories and 4 “how-to” educational videos. This was a highly successful collaborative reporting project with the University of Zagreb. Croatian faculty and students from the University of Zagreb’s journalism department (FPZG), along with six students and one faculty member from three other countries joined in the collaboration. The Public Affairs Office at the U.S. Embassy in Zagreb funded the project and it received awards. Watch the video.

Other major international initiatives include faculty-led Cronkite study abroad programs, overseas faculty research projects, invited scholars and professionals in residence and training for emerging international journalists through programs such as the Edward R. Murrow Program for Journalists through the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program.

Faculty and staff