One of the pressing issues for the news industry is training. Many journalists simply do not have the skills needed in an Internet age, so the Knight Foundation is investing more than US$6 million in preparing reporters and editors for a digital world.
The money is going to the Knight Digital Media Center, based at two universities in Los Angeles. $2.8 million is going to the University of California, Berkeley to enable it to offer more multimedia workshops and $2.4 million to the University of Southern California for leadership workshops and special topic seminars for journalists.
The foundation is giving an additional US$1.5 million grant to help NPR gear up for its expansion into digital news.
Having been involved in some of the training sessions organised by the Knight Digital Media Center, this funding is welcomed news. Earlier this year, a study by the Knight Foundation, Investing in the Future of News (PDF), found that fewer outlets are investing in the future of news, with nine out of 10 journalists saying they needed more training.
With the challenges journalism is facing, more news organisations should be investing in training, rather than cutting back on budgets.
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As someone who’s greatly interested in training the future journalists who will work in the rest of the U.S., I’m somewhat disappointed that the Knight Foundation has put so much money into universities that are so far removed geographically from much of the U.S. There are Knight professors all over the U.S. – North Carolina, Florida, other places – who could use an injection of funds to train future (and current journalists). Why spend the money in one of the most expensive places in the country?