J-School Receives Funding for New Media Center

The Graduate School of Journalism announced Monday that it will receive a $5 million donation to establish a new and emerging media center. The center will broaden existing curriculum for the new media specialization, as well as bolster the J-School's research in online and digital journalism.

The endowment, granted by the Connecticut-based Tow Foundation, will go towards the development of the new media Tow Center. According to a press release from the Tow Foundation, the primary mission of the center will be to explore new methods of digital reporting, as well as to "educate the next generation of journalists who have the skills and knowledge to lead the future of professional journalism on the Internet and other forms of new media."

"This gift from The Tow Foundation reflects their vision of a journalism profession that evolves with changing demands and is based on sound research and cutting-edge innovation," Dean Nicholas Lemann said in a press release. "Their generosity is also a reminder and a challenge to those in the field of journalism to turn the obstacles we face into opportunities for growth."

The donation will now have to be matched by an additional $10 million from other sources. Once it receives full funding, the J-School will hire two full-time faculty members to head up the new center.

In addition to the $5 million granted to Columbia, philanthropist Leonard Tow also donated $3 million to the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. Tow said in a press release that the endowments came out of a growing concern for the quality of journalism in light of new media formats.

"We want to help speed the process of evolution and help prepare the next generation of journalists for a new media environment," Tow said.

The development of the new media center, as well as the recent announcement that Wall Street Journal deputy managing editor Bill Grueskin will be joining the school as academic affairs dean this fall, signals the J-School’s adaptation to a shifting industry. With traditional journalism going increasingly digital, the potential of the Tow Center, as well as the incoming Dean of Academic Affairs who has an extensive background in Internet journalism—as online editor, Grueskin had success in boosting the WSJ.com Web site into an interactive, 24-hour news service—the J-School is now looking to bring its research and curriculum into a more modern era.

The necessity of journalism education has been under constant scrutiny. The one-year training, which culminates in a Masters degree, is extremely pricey. But Grueskin has said that journalism education grows more relevant as digital journalism becomes prominent. Grueskin never attended journalism school, but he has said that now, newspapers do not have the resources to fully prepare young journalists with the skills to succeed in the world of new media reporting.

Tow’s donation, Lemann said, served as “a reminder and a challenge to those in the field of journalism to turn the obstacles we face into opportunities for growth."

alix.pianin@columbiaspectator.com