US: Knight Foundation "speed(s) the news industry's digital transformation

Posted by John Burke on September 18, 2007 at 10:13 AM

The Knight Foundation announced yesterday that its recently established Digital Media Center is partnering with two American journalism schools and helping to fund National Public Radio's (NPR) "transformation into a public media company."

Knight will "increase its training and become a 'virtual center' to help journalists succeed in the 21st century." Knight awarded $2.8 million to the University of California, Berkeley and $2.4 million to the University of Southern California as well as a $1.5 million grant to NPR.

“Digital technology poses major challenges and opportunities to journalism,” says Alberto Ibargüen, Knight Foundation’s president and CEO. “These grants help the Knight Digital Media Center play a leading role in training journalists to meet these challenges

Knight is offering an array of new training programs and facilities detailed here.

The Knight Foundation also funds innovative projects such as NewsU, online training for those interested in becoming journalists, and the Knight News Challenge, which in 2007 began giving away $5 million per year over five years for the best ideas in digital community news.

Source: Knight Foundation

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