Journalism Schools, Training Groups May Apply to Host a McCormick Specialized Reporting Institute in 2013

Workshop hosts receive funds from the Robert R. McCormick Foundation to cover the costs of travel and teaching on critical topics for journalists

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Robert R. McCormick Foundation and The Poynter Institute announce that applications are open for organizations to host a McCormick Specialized Reporting Institute (SRI) in 2013.

SRIs are intensive reporting workshops designed to provide subject-specific expertise and practical skills to working journalists.  McCormick funded seven SRI workshops in 2012. Topics include covering Super PACs, war veterans returning home, child sexual abuse, social protest movements and violence in schools.

Details and an application for 2013 are on Poynter’s e-learning site, News University, at
https://www.newsu.org/resources/mccormick-sri/.

Deadline for applications is Nov. 16, 2012.

Most SRI workshops provide two days of teaching to about 20 journalists. To extend the learning beyond the workshop, SRI hosts work with Poynter, a non-profit journalism school, to produce an online resource page for reporters, a Webinar and either a live chat or how-to article on Poynter’s website, Poynter.org.

Best applicants in 2013 will be journalism schools, non-profit organizations or other training groups who propose teaching on a topic of keen interest to citizens, and therefore to journalists.

McCormick funds this program through a grant to The Poynter Institute.  Poynter and McCormick will select five to seven SRI hosts and topics for 2013, providing each host $30,000 to $50,000 to carry out this work.  Funds cover the costs of the training, including travel and lodging for participants.

For more information, e-mail McCormickSRI@poynter.org.

About the Robert R. McCormick Foundation 
The McCormick Foundation is committed to strengthening our nation’s civic health by fostering educated, informed and engaged citizens. Through its grantmaking programs, Cantigny Park and Golf, and museums, the Foundation helps citizens make life better in our communities. The Foundation was established as a charitable trust in 1955, upon the death of Colonel Robert R. McCormick, the longtime editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune. The McCormick Foundation is one of the nation’s largest charities, with more than $1 billion in assets.  For more information, please visit www.McCormickFoundation.org.

About The Poynter Institute
The Poynter Institute trains journalism practitioners, media leaders, educators and citizens in the areas of online and multimedia, leadership and management, reporting, writing and editing, TV and radio, ethics and diversity, journalism education and visual journalism. Poynter’s website, (www.poynter.org) is the dominant provider of journalism news, with a focus on business analysis and the opportunities and implications of technology. Poynter’s News University (www.newsu.org) offers training to journalists, journalism students, teachers and the public through more than 200 interactive e-learning modules and other forms of training. It has more than 220,000 registered users in 225 countries.

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Bittersweet news for the McCormick Journalism program

Janet Liao is leaving the McCormick Foundation to join GLC Custom Media as a managing editor/digital media manager.

Janet spent the last three years as a McCormick Journalism Program officer.

Her extraordinary contributions included development of the Why News Matter Initiative and directing the Journalism Program’s evaluation efforts. She is creative, unflappable and never cuts a corner.

During her tenure, Janet assumed key leadership roles as a board member for the Chicago Women in Philanthropy.

Janet also was among the first McCormick Scholars in the Medill School of Journalism’s graduate program.

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