Arizona State University To Offer First Ever Master's Degree In Investigative Journalism

Are you interested in the world of investigative journalism? Getting a college degree can help you get your foot into the door of the media industry and two schools, Arizona State University and the University of Maryland, are planning to develop investigative reporting centers next year with the help of $3 million grants.

The Scripps-Howard Foundation will be behind the new centers

The Scripps-Howard Foundation, which serves as the philanthropic arm of media giant E.W. Scripps Company, will help fund the centers, which will be named after Roy W. Howard, who served as the former chairman of the corporation.
According to AZ Central, Scripps-Howard Foundation President and CEO Liz Carter said that, while journalism had always been important to the organization, recent controversy over “fake news” being reported in the media spurred the recent move into investigative journalism in the following statement:

“If we can help make sure great journalism carries on and survives all of these changes and comes out stronger than ever — that’s exactly what we want to do.”


The centerpiece of the programs will be a new master’s degree in investigative journalism

One focal point of the new program will be a new master’s degree in investigative journalism offered by Arizona State University, which will make the school the first in the country to offer such a degree. While involved in the program, students will be a part of a working newsroom and produce investigative journalism with national impact. The school will also start a national search for an executive editor imminently and also plans to hire at least two other faculty members to support the program, with the first cohort at the school’s Howard Center for Investigative Journalism will start in fall 2019.
On Twitter, Anne Ryman, a senior reporter at The Arizona Republic and AZ Central, also highlighted the degree being the first of its kind:

“Arizona State University to offer master’s degree in investigative journalism, the first university in the country to offer such a degree”

For their part, Lucy Dalglish, dean of University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism, issued the following statement concerning the programs:

“Today’s newsrooms need help. They need this kind of assistance and this will also provide them with the next generation of investigative reporters.”

The foundation will provide $1 million per year for three years to each institution. According to Christopher Callahan, dean of the ASU Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, this has been seen as the largest single investment in investigative journalism at the university level, who also added the following statement:

“I would argue that investigative journalism has always been an incredibly important part of our country and part of our democracy … but it’s more important now than ever before.”
“It’s going to first create this whole new generation of great investigative journalists (while) at the same time producing great investigative journalism for the whole nation.”

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