Reynolds Center Launches New Programs

The Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism is launching new nationwide initiatives to improve and encourage the quality of business journalism training at the university level. The programs include business journalism student internships and a weeklong training seminar for prospective professors in the field. Named as initial host publications for the five new student internships were The Detroit Free Press, Houston Chronicle, The Miami Herald, The Oregonian and The Philadelphia Inquirer. All have previously hosted the center’s one-day workshops. In addition, a Business Journalism Professors Seminar for 12 prospective instructors from around the country will be held Jan. 8 to 11 at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University, the center’s home. Applications are now being accepted for fellowships, which cover the full cost of the program. “We have trained more than 4,000 working business journalists in the past three years and now also want to make a difference earlier in journalism careers,” said Andrew Leckey, director of the Reynolds Center. “Reaching students with quality business journalism training will improve the quality and numbers of those entering the field.” Details about the internships and business professor seminar are available on the center’s Web site http://www.BusinessJournalism.org and from Leckey at andrew.leckey@businessjournalism.org or 602-496-9186. The Reynolds Center also will be accepting student applications for its two existing internships that are split between the center and local publications. The Arizona Republic and The Business Journal of Phoenix will each share an intern with the center next summer. Launched at the American Press Institute in 2003, the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism moved to the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in July. Its programs include daylong business journalism workshops, weeklong online seminars, one-hour self-guided tutorials and the site http://www.BusinessJournalism.org. The center is funded by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, a national philanthropic organization founded in 1954 by the late media entrepreneur for whom it is named. Headquartered in Las Vegas, Nev., it is one of the largest private foundations in the United States. The Cronkite School at Arizona State, named in honor of the long-time CBS news anchor in 1984, is a leading professional journalism school with about 1,800 undergraduate and master’s students.