Going back to school

By: Joe Strupp Going back to school


Instead of giving up on the future of the "daily miracle" and waiting for the last newspaper to shut down in the face of falling circulation and rising competition, newsroom veterans are flocking in record numbers to mid-career training centers, observers say.
The Poynter Institute, the Foundation for American Communications (FACS), and the American Press Institute (API) each report steady increases in students and faculty as veterans push to sharpen their skills, learn new management and production techniques, and even find out what is happening in other departments.
Newsroom workers say updating skills, technology training, and learning new approaches are more vital than ever as Web sites, 24-hour news channels, and specialty publications eat into the daily newspaper market. "People realize they have to have staff members at the top of their game," says Carol Ann Riordan, director of programming and personnel for API, the nonprofit media education center in Reston, Va., that dates back to 1946.
API, funded by newspaper sponsors and foundation grants, has seen a slow increase in programs and students since 1981, Riordan says pointing out the institute jumped from 38 programs in 1981 to 44 in 1989 and to 59 this year. Participation also has increased steadily, with 949 students enrolling in 1981, 1,364 in 1989, and 1,678 this year.
Within the past year, API also has added new opportunities such as online seminars, a new $729,000 media center, and a new partnership with the Freedom Forum for more First Amendment training.
At Poynter, the 24-year-old St. Petersburg, Fla., media center, faculty has grown from 15 to 47 instructors since 1985, with the curriculum increasing from 23 courses to 60 over the same time period. Participation in programs also jumped, from 835 enrolled students in 1989 to 1,067 last year.
Poynter will launch a $6.3-million expansion of its home later this year, which is expected to nearly double the size of the teaching location, officials said last week. Construction is expected to begin in October on the 26,000-square-foot addition that will adjoin the current 31,000-square-foot site. The new location will include classrooms for Poynter seminars, meeting rooms for journalism organizations, and facilities for visiting journalists to conduct research and write, officials say.
At FACS, the study center based in Pasadena, Calif., president Jack Cox offers few specifics about enrollment or program growth, but says the center will have about 30% more journalists in its programs this year than last year and has increased its annual budget from $1.2 million in 1989 to $1.8 million in 1999. FACS also recently moved into a new four-building complex operated by the Western Justice Center Foundation; launched a new three-year, $400,000 program for in-house newspaper training; and funded new programs focused on science, land use, and legal issues.
"There is a much greater recognition today on the part of journalists and newsroom managers that they need to get better," says Poynter president James M. Naughton.
Poynter, funded by revenue from several publications owned by the institute - such as the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times, Florida Trends magazine, and Congressional Quarterly - has made a concerted effort to reduce costs for students, Naughton says. He says seminars that two years ago ran as high as $750 a student, excluding hotel expenses, now are down to $350, including hotel expenses.
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