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Foundations, Research Centers, and Institutes

Journalism is served by a plethora of foundations, institutes, and research centers, virtually all of them dedicated to improving the news media and their products. Some are tied to academic institutions and based on their campuses (usually as an integral part of their journalism programs), though many were at least initially funded by endowments or other gifts from wealthy individuals, some of them journalists themselves.

Most tend to focus on a specific aspect of the news media, and some espouse specific viewpoints. A number offer scholarships and fellowships or annual awards that are detailed elsewhere. Not noted here are the many media industry individual company or trade organization educational foundations that many news media groups operate. These generally focus on training and scholarships, seeking to provide support for those seeking careers.

The very number of such organizations is surely one indication of the importance of journalism in society—but can also be a source of confusion. While some have quite specific functions, others are wide ranging, and the overlap is obvious. Some are fairly “quiet,” centering on training and other background functions, while others are far more active in participating in the public debate about the changes in journalism, how to improve its performance, or expressing concern about a lack of objectivity or coverage of some aspect of daily life.

What follows is a partial directory of those entities operating at the time this project went to press, with descriptions drawn largely from the organizations' own websites.

Key Organizations

American Press Institute

Founded by newspaper publishers in 1946, the American Press Institute (API, http://www.americanpressinstitute.org) is the oldest and largest center focused upon training and professional development for both news practitioners and journalism educators. API conducts more than 30 residential seminars a year for journalists and sales, marketing, and management professionals in print, broadcast, cable, and digital media companies. API offers “tracks” of programs that focus upon key parts of news organizations: advertising, circulation, the editorial function, general management, marketing, and the special issues of weekly newspapers, all building on what has been learned from its ongoing Newspaper Next project. API also develops customized training seminars on news content, journalism values, and effective leadership and management, and continues to design educational programs for news people and organizations in other parts of the world.

Casey Journalism Center for Children and Families

The Casey Journalism Center (CJC, http://www.journalismcenter.org/index.cfm) was created to teach about and recognize exemplary reporting concerning children and families. Since 1993, thousands of print and electronic journalists have attended its training programs and relied on CJC for information about children and family life. CJC is a nonprofit program of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland. Its two- and five-day fellowships, news summaries about children and family concerns, and other programs are funded by foundations and individual donors.

Center for Media and Public Affairs

Formed in 1985 by Robert and Linda Lichter (the latter died early in 2009), the Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA, http://www.cmpa.com) has been a nonpartisan research and educational organization that conducts research on both news and entertainment media. CMPA election studies have played a part in the ongoing debate over improving the election process. They also analyze late night television program political jokes, the important role media play in communicating information about health risks and scientific issues, and the gap between academic research and the broader domains of media policy. The CMPA's stated goal is to provide an empirical basis for debates over media fairness through studies of media content.

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