FELLOWSHIPS OFFERED TO MINORITY JOURNALISTS

By: Joe Strupp Editors Groups Partner With Freedom Forum





SAN ANTONIO - A partnership launched Thursday between the Associated Press Managing Editors, American Society of Newspaper Editors and Freedom Forum will give minority journalists more opportunities at smaller newspapers, APME President Jerry Ceppos announced during the annual APME conference here.



Ceppos, vice president for news at Knight Ridder, said the partnership will provide 50, two-year fellowships for newspapers with daily circulations under 75,000. The $20,000 fellowships must be used to supplement the salaries of new minority journalists at each paper.



"It is a stringent, targeted, precise initiative that should go a long way toward eliminating two problems: bringing in more minority journalists and placing them at smaller papers," Ceppos said.



The Freedom Forum, based in Arlington, Va., is providing the stipend funding, while APME and ASNE are working to line up papers that will be involved in the project. The three groups came up with the idea after the Freedom Forum agreed in April to donate $1million for a new program to recruit more minorities.



"It will be a massive infusion of new energy into this pipeline of talent," said Richard Oppel, editor of the Austin American-Statesman and ASNE president. "We're still moving ahead on this mission."



Under the program, those minority journalists who receive the fellowships will also receive membership in a minority journalism association and be assigned to a mentor at their chosen newspaper.







Joe Strupp (jstrupp@editorandpublisher.com) is an associate editor for E&P.







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