Five journalism students selected from universities participating in Carnegie Corporation’s Future of Journalism Education initiative have been invited to participate in the 2011 ABC News Summer Institute. The 10-week program offers paid internships and hands-on reporting experience in one of America’s most respected news organizations.
The Carnegie Fellows will be assigned to the network’s award-winning Brian Ross investigative unit producing content for all of ABC’s media platforms and programs including Nightline, World News Tonight, Good Morning America, ABC News Digital and ABC News Radio.
“These young reporters-in-the-making are smart, energetic, eager and inquisitive. Indeed, that’s the first hallmark of a journalist: to be inquisitive,” said Vartan Gregorian, president of Carnegie Corporation of New York. “Not to be cynical but to be intellectually curious and to always be sure you are not being manipulated by others. In an age of manipulation, more than ever we need the best educated men and women, the best minds, to go into journalism. The pay is little, but the service is great and those who join the profession will have a major impact on our nation’s history.”
“We are grateful to Carnegie Corporation for offering such a competitive internship opportunity to students across the country,” said Kerry Smith, Senior Vice President of Editorial Quality. “These top university journalism students offer ABC News insight into younger audiences, flexibility with technology and an ability to find new ways of reaching people. They are also a real pipeline for talent; almost one third of the students who have interned as Carnegie Fellows have been hired by the network.”
This year’s Fellows are:
Lauren Gilger | Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Arizona State University
Charles Gorra | S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University
Josh Haskell | Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University
Selly KeThiam | Graduate School of Journalism, City University of New York
Robin Respaut | Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University
Working as members of the Brian Ross investigative unit, past Carnegie Corporation-ABC Fellows have produced reports on issues ranging from lax enforcement of child labor laws in the fields of the nation’s largest blueberry growers to an investigation of the country’s statehouses revealing a pattern of criminal behavior to an assessment of the state of security at the nation’s campus-based experimental nuclear reactors.
“The Carnegie Fellows are the vanguard of a new type of journalist, said Susan King, Vice President, External Affairs and Program Director, Journalism Initiative, Special Initiatives and Strategy. “They not only pursue and produce stories, but are able to pivot and disseminate their pieces in print, on the web or over the air. They show the industry how journalism education can produce students with deep knowledge and digital know-how.”
The five Fellows, chosen from a pool of highly-qualified students selected by their journalism school deans, will do research, develop stories and produce reports as well as receive training in ABC News ethics and procedures.
About the Future of Journalism Initiative
ABC News Summer Institute is an addition to the Carnegie-Knight Initiative on the Future of Journalism Education which has three parts: 1) revitalizing journalism school curricula; 2) immersing top students in an innovative and in-depth campus based news incubator project called News21; and 3) providing a forum for journalism deans on policy issues and a resource for journalism educators.
