Scripps Howard Foundation awards Cronkite $5.7 million grant to expand investigative journalism program

The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University has been awarded a $5.7 million grant from the Scripps Howard Foundation to expand the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism and significantly grow its impact at the local, regional and national levels.

The funding will launch a suite of major new initiatives, including a statewide accountability reporting effort called The Beam, a national Inclusive Excellence in Journalism Fellowship, and an expansion of Cronkite's investigative curriculum, graduate training and newsroom partnerships.

"We are humbled at the level of confidence that the Scripps Howard Foundation continues to show in us and our work," said Battinto L. Batts Jr., dean of the Cronkite School. "This partnership has produced remarkable results and had a tremendous impact on journalism. We embrace the tremendous responsibility that goes along with being given valuable resources to do our work and collaborate with others to advance our mission at this critical time."

The Beam: Local accountability journalism, statewide reach

Launching this year, The Beam is a new investigative newsroom housed within the Howard Center and focused on producing in-depth reporting on issues that matter to Arizona communities.

The Beam will be staffed by a team of investigative journalists-in-residence, who will work alongside Cronkite student interns to report on public-interest topics such as education, water, housing, health care, immigration and political accountability.

At launch, The Beam will bring together resources from a major public journalism school with local nonprofit investigative newsrooms (such as the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting) to produce investigative reports on key issues that are under-reported in Arizona, including chronic challenges to the state's public education system, businesses, water availability and other key issues. The Beam also has secured a first-of-its-kind partnership with the Arizona Media Association and the Arizona Local News Foundation that will allow some of its stories to reach audiences across the state through a network of newspaper, digital, nonprofit and broadcast news outlets.

Inclusive Excellence in Journalism Fellowship

With this new grant, the Cronkite School is also launching the Inclusive Excellence in Journalism Fellowship Experience, a summer program led by Ida B. Wells Professor Angela Hill and designed to expand access to investigative training.

Each summer, the Howard Center will welcome a cohort of undergraduate students from various institutions. The fellows will receive scholarships to complete a new investigative journalism certificate program drawn from the Cronkite School's evolving curriculum. They will attend the annual IRE conference, be mentored by experienced faculty and receive hands-on training in producing journalism that reflects the communities they serve.This initiative also reflects ASU's charter commitment to access and inclusion.

Expanding core Howard Center programming

The $5.7 million grant also strengthens Cronkite's core investigative offerings through:

• Ongoing support of the Master of Arts in Investigative Journalism
• Year-round public records and story development work, including work led by graduate assistants
• New collaborative investigations with major national outlets
• Integration with a new Professor of AI and investigative Journalism, a position funded by a separate Scripps Howard Foundation grant.  
• An expanded Investigative Editors certificate program, which brings the Howard Center education model to a global audience through CronkitePro.

The Howard Center at the Cronkite School continues to gain national recognition for its rigorous investigative work and training model, with recent student-led projects airing on PBS NewsHour, cited in Congressional briefings, and winning major national journalism awards.

About the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at ASU

The Howard Center is part of a national effort funded by the Scripps Howard Foundation to train the next generation of investigative reporters. Its award-winning student journalists collaborate on deeply reported stories that inform the public and hold the powerful to account.