The News21 investigative program is an award-winning national reporting initiative headquartered at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Each year, we welcome News21 student reporting fellows from more than a dozen universities across the country. They come to the Cronkite School to report on some of our world’s most pressing and complex issues. Previous projects have explored voting rights, hate groups, contaminated drinking water, disparities in the juvenile justice system and other defining challenges of our time.
We value our long partnership with the National Association of Hispanic Journalists in working toward the shared goal of a more diverse and inclusive journalism industry. We are proud of our NAHJ student chapter, which supports our emerging journalists and serves as a strong, clear voice for diversity and inclusion in our school and our industry. We always welcome feedback and insight from NAHJ members about how to make Cronkite School a more diverse and inclusive place and how we can play a leadership role in this area.
This year, nine Cronkite fellows join 26 others from 16 partner universities. These fellows bring a wide range of identities, backgrounds and experiences, and they are working tirelessly to share important stories from communities across the country. We are proud of the work they are doing, and we look forward to publishing and celebrating their reporting in August.
We are reviewing the News21 program and our processes to determine how to ensure that all students at the Cronkite School are aware of this opportunity and feel supported in pursuing it.
This work comes at a time of deep reflection and action at the Cronkite School. In the past year, we have taken important steps to assess all areas of our school through the lens of diversity, equity and inclusion. We are proud of the diversity of our community and we will continue our work to seek and support the next generation of journalists and communicators. We value our collaboration with NAHJ and other media organizations, and we look forward to continuing to build strong relationships to benefit journalists from all backgrounds and experiences for years to come.