The Cronkite Journal
The Cronkite Journal is an annual publication featuring the latest news from the Cronkite School, including new faculty, programs, awards and facilities as well as features on top students and alumni.
The glossy magazine is produced by Cronkite staff and advanced reporting and photography students in a Cronkite Journal for-credit internship.
For a free copy of the magazine, drop us a note at cronkiteinfo@asu.edu.
2020-2021 The Cronkite Journal: A Year Like No Other
Cronkite meets pandemic challenges. Spring break 2020 marked the beginning of an unprecedented year as the Cronkite School found new ways to deliver quality education during a pandemic. And Cronkite’s new dean, Battinto L. Batts Jr., brings to the school skills as a “collaborator” and “connector.”
In a time of change, Cronkite is taking new steps to ensure the school is a welcoming and inclusive place for all. Vanessa Ruiz, the school’s first director of diversity initiatives, will develop programs, curricula and resources to promote equity and access across the school.
2019-2020 The Cronkite Journal: Reaching New Audiences
This year’s issue details new audiences with PBS, Cronkite News and more. PBS NewsHour, one of the most trusted news programs on television, came to Arizona and opened a bureau at the Cronkite School. Nearby, Indian Country Today, the largest news site covering tribes and Native people across the Americas, moved into Cronkite’s offices.
Cronkite News expanded in Los Angeles to cover both news and sports, while the newly created Howard Center in Phoenix launched its first investigations. All around, students seized new opportunities during the largest expansion of Cronkite’s services to date.
2018-2019 The Cronkite Journal: Cronkite Launches Howard
Cronkite is now home to the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism, built for an immersive master’s degree program. Faculty for the new center discuss the importance of investigative journalism and introduce major investigative projects.
This year came with other new initiatives, including a Knight Foundation grant to innovate local TV news. Cronkite also added an online degree focused on digital strategy, audience engagement and social media to its curriculum.
2017-2018 The Cronkite Journal: Innovation
2017 was a year of innovation for the Cronkite School. Cronkite spearheaded new initiatives, including a news literacy project with Facebook, a technology innovation expo and virtual reality projects. The school was also awarded one of the highest honors in journalism education for its diversity and inclusion efforts.
Several new degree programs were introduced within the digital audience and business journalism fields, and the Sports Knowledge Lab was added to Cronkite’s sports journalism programs.
2016-2017 The Cronkite Journal: Cronkite at 100
This year’s issue commemorates the late Walter Cronkite on his 100th birthday. The Cronkite School held a series of events to honor the beloved news anchor, including a daylong celebration in Washington D.C. featuring some of the nation’s top journalists. Speakers discussed Cronkite’s influence and the importance of upholding the journalistic principles he espoused.
Cronkite strives to be a key part of ASU’s drive to innovate. The first annual Cronkite Innovation Day was a success, featuring drones, virtual reality, and a variety of other technologies shaping the future of journalism. The Cronkite School is the first journalism school in the nation to team up with Google News Lab to test new digital tools and encourage their use throughout the curriculum.
2015-2016 The Cronkite Journal: Hooked
This year’s issue highlights a student-produced documentary called “Hooked”. The project, which details Arizona’s deadly heroin problem, won the school prestigious awards, including its first Alfred I. duPont-Colombia award.
2015 also marked the tenth year since the Cronkite school was made the centerpiece of the new Downtown Phoenix campus. Faculty looked back at the school’s history, achievements and what has made Cronkite “the gold standard for journalism education” in America for 10 years.
2014-2015 The Cronkite Journal: Arizona PBS Joins Cronkite
Arizona PBS, the state’s leading public television station, joined Cronkite, making it the world’s largest journalism school-run media outlet. The station will serve as a leading platform for innovation and distribution of student-produced content.
Cronkite also expanded its sports journalism program. The new sports journalism bureaus of Cronkite News will operate in LA and Phoenix, where students will cover professional and intercollegiate sports for national and regional media outlets. Several new courses were also added to the sports journalism program, including photojournalism.
2013-2014 The Cronkite Journal: Sports Journalism Takes Off at Cronkite
This sports-edition journal features Cronkite’s new sports journalism offerings and partnerships with the PAC-12 Networks, FOX Sports Arizona and more.
Students in Cronkite’s spring training course shared their experience in the school’s third iteration of the class, while sports media professionals explained the unique touch a student can provide to their content. This issue also takes a look at Cronkite alumni who excel as professional sports journalists.
2012-2013 The Cronkite Journal: The Teaching Hospital Model
The Cronkite School is leading the movement in embracing the “teaching hospital model”. This method of teaching gives students hands-on experiences that allow them to develop skills while producing professional-level journalism for the public.
The Downtown Phoenix campus keeps expanding with the additions of a student union at the U.S. Post Office and a student recreation center at the Lincoln Family Downtown YMCA. The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation awarded two grants for a total of $8.21 million to the Cronkite School in 2012 for business journalism.
2011-2012 The Cronkite Journal: Beyond Arizona
Cronkite News Service launches Washington bureau, becoming the largest news operation to cover Washington for Arizona. Students in the new bureau were able to report on Congress, federal agencies, the White House and the Supreme Court with relevance to Arizona and the Southwest.
For the sixth consecutive year, Cronkite outperformed all other schools in the Society of Professional Journalists’ prestigious Mark of Excellence national awards competition. The Cronkite School finished in the top 10 overall schools in the Hearst Competition for the tenth consecutive year.
2010-2011 The Cronkite Journal: Cronkite Legacy Lives on at His School
Walter Cronkite is remembered for his journalistic prowess, his core values and integrity, his 25-year involvement with the Cronkite School and his legacy left behind for generations of journalists and students to come.
Cronkite Students won 130 national and regional awards, setting an all-time school record. One student from eleven journalism schools across the country gathered at Cronkite and produced a 23-story multimedia project about the dangers of traveling in America that was published by The Washington Post and MSNBC.com and received loads of national coverage.
2009-2010 The Cronkite Journal: A New Era Begins
Twenty-five years after the Arizona Board of Regents named the journalism program after Walter Cronkite, the regents joined Cronkite students. Staff and more to dedicate the school’s new home in Downtown Phoenix.
The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation granted $5.34 to the Cronkite School, making it a global center for business journalism education. The Carnegie-Knight News21 project breaks barriers with its nationwide seminars and multimedia projects.
2008-2009 The Cronkite Journal: A J-School for the 21st Century
Construction of the Cronkite School has been completed as a new age for the prestigious journalism program is underway. The $71 million building was completed in just an 18 month timespan from groundbreaking to opening.
The Cronkite School’s master’s program welcomed its first class of full-time students from across the world. The Cronkite School is launching a new journalism specialization on covering Latino communities and U.S.- Mexico transnational issues.
2007-2008 The Cronkite Journal: New Building Takes Shape
The Cronkite building in Downtown Phoenix is scheduled to open for the fall 2008 semester as construction of the building is shaping up with the help of Dean Christopher Callahan, ASU President Michael Crow, Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon and Walter Cronkite himself.
The Knight Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship opened in late 2007 with the intention to “spur discovery of how digital platforms can be used”. The Cronkite School curriculum has undergone seismic shifts in order to better prepare future journalists for 21st Century and digital age media.
2006-2007 The Cronkite Journal: New Home
The first edition of The Cronkite Journal details the Cronkite School’s bold new plans for the journalism program. The newly independent Cronkite School establishes its goals of moving to Downtown Phoenix by 2008. On March 14th, 2006, Phoenix voters passed a bond issue that set aside $223 million for the Downtown Phoenix campus and a significant portion of that money will be used to build and equip the new Cronkite building.
The Cronkite News Service launched in January 2007 under the direction of Steve Elliot and Sue Green, giving students true hands-on and professional experience. Cronkite’s first Dean Christopher Callahan has a clear-cut plan of becoming the best journalism school in the West.