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Statement of Vartan Gregorian, President of Carnegie Corporation of New York, about the Carnegie-Knight Initiative on the Future of Journalism Education

"At a time when there is both an explosion of knowledge and information and a corollary fragmentation of that knowledge as we move toward being a more and more highly specialized society, it is important for the nation's future journalists to have a mastery not only of technique but also of content. In this way, they can help us all separate the wheat from the chaff, and fact from opinion, serving our citizens and our democracy by basing what they report to us on a foundation of transparency, accuracy, and deep knowledge of the subjects they cover. Schools of journalism at American universities, where the academic disciplines still coexist, are positioned to draw upon the full intellectual and educational resources of the university environment to help produce the skilled, responsible, expert, knowledgeable and highly proficient journalism leaders that our society--indeed the world--has need of, especially in these complex and challenging times.

With these concerns in mind, Carnegie Corporation of New York commissioned McKinsey and Co. (to whom we extend our gratitude) to interview the nation's top journalists, publishers, news media analysts, owners and other leaders, and what their comments revealed was that they themselves are concerned about the future of journalism and many look to schools of journalism to help revitalize the profession. I am, therefore, both pleased and proud that the deans of five of some of the most prominent journalism schools in the U.S., along with the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, have helped to craft and are participating in this Carnegie-Knight Initiative on the Future of Journalism Education. I am equally pleased that the five presidents of the universities involved have lent their moral and institutional support to these efforts. It is our hope that the work of the initiative, which the deans will share with their fellow journalism educators, will begin a national discourse about journalism, which plays such a critical and central role in our national life and the vitality of our democracy."