PRINCETON, N.J. —  The board of directors of the Dow Jones News Fund has approved $450,500 in grants and operating expenses for the Fund’s 2016 programs that include professional journalism internships and residential training for college students, digital training for journalism professors and workshops for high school students this summer.

In response to demands for journalists with a wide range of digital skills, the News Fund is continuing to expand its programs in data journalism and digital media. It will host its first data journalism internship program in partnership with Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE). The digital media internship program will broaden its curriculum to include analytics, coding and mobile devices. Multimedia training for college professors from Historically Black Colleges and Universities and institutions with large Hispanic enrollments will continue.  

Richard J. Levine, president of the News Fund, said, “We are delighted to be able to provide these new digital offerings for aspiring journalists while recognizing the need to continue training in the basics of journalism — strong reporting, writing and editing. This year’s grants are intended to do just that.”

“We are continuing to look at industry needs and to ask our media partners and former interns about the kinds of training interns need to compete in today’s newsrooms. Our programming is responsive to what we are hearing and seeing,” said Linda Shockley, managing director.

COLLEGE PROGRAMS – $309,000

The News Fund expects to train 96 college juniors, seniors and graduate students to work as digital and data journalists, news editors and business reporters. Intern travel, operating costs and $1,000 scholarships for successful interns have been allocated for the program.

Mark Horvit, IRE executive director, will run the inaugural data journalism training program at the University of Missouri. Digital interns will be trained at the Cronkite School of Journalism, Arizona State University, Phoenix, directed by Michael Wong.

The news editing training centers will be at Temple University, Philadelphia, directed by Dr. Edward Trayes; the University of Texas at Austin, directed by Beth Butler and Dr. Bradley Wilson; the University of Missouri, Columbia, directed by Brian Brooks, and the Pennsylvania State University directed by John Dillon.

Will Sutton, journalism professor at Grambling (La.) State University, will lead the News Fund business reporting program and American City Business Journals reporting program at New York University’s Arthur Carter Journalism Institute.

Former and current interns will also be eligible for support to attend media technology conferences where they can upgrade their skills.

TRAINING FOR COLLEGE PROFESSORS – $50,000

The Fund will offer a six-day summer multimedia academy for 16 professors from Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Hispanic-serving institutions at the University of Texas at El Paso. Zita Arocha, director of Borderzine.com and a senior lecturer, will run the program. The academy simulates a deadline-oriented, real world newsroom where instructors gain hands-on experience in how to use video, audio and digital photography in newsgathering and then how to use the latest editing software in story production. The goal is for professors to update their curricula and to transfer their newly acquired digital skills to their students, making them more competitive for internships, fellowships and job opportunities.  

Additionally, the Fund plans training for computer science and journalism professors who want to collaborate on computational journalism curricula. This is an expansion of a seminar conducted last June.

HIGH SCHOOL JOURNALISM WORKSHOPS – $30,000

The Summer High School Journalism Program will support eight workshops to train high school students in digital media and introduce them to college journalism programs and media careers. The News Fund identified innovative programs with diverse populations in large urban areas, reaching all geographic regions.

The funded workshops are: Mosaic Journalism Workshop, hosted by the California Chicano News Media Association at San Jose State  University; Urban Culture: Grassroots and Global Workshop, hosted by Columbia Links at Columbia College Chicago; James Ansin/Peace Sullivan High School Journalism and  New Media Workshop at the University of Miami; Urban Journalism Workshop at New York University; C-HIT Summer Investigative Reporting Workshops hosted by the Connecticut Health Investigative Team at Yale University and University of Connecticut;  Journalism Diversity Workshop at the University of Arizona in Tucson; Missouri Urban Journalism Workshop at the University of Missouri, Columbia and Journalism in July at the University of Texas at El Paso.

Three students will be awarded $1,000 scholarships for the best writing, photography and multimedia package produced in the 2016 summer high school journalism workshops.

HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER PROGRAMS – $13,500

The Dow Jones News Fund National High School Journalism Teacher of the Year program was allotted $3,000 for scholarships, to be awarded to students of the five high school journalism teachers chosen as best in 2016. An additional $10,500 was granted to purchase a laptop for the Teacher of the Year’s classroom and to promote the program through travel and speaking engagements for the winner at news industry, scholastic and academic conferences. The program will receive in-kind support from the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, the Columbia Scholastic Press Association and The Wall Street Journal. The deadline for teachers to apply is July 9.

ADVISER UPDATE – $4,000

Adviser Update, a free quarterly publication for high school media advisers, has been reconfigured as a digital magazine. DJNF-honored teachers, alumni and instructors, particularly those teaching new technologies, are primary contributors, drawing upon their expertise as thought leaders. The magazine and back issues of the print version are at www.adviserupdate.org.

GENERAL OPERATING EXPENSES – $40,000

This category covers general office expenses, marketing, alumni network development and conferences. This year the News Fund will be investing resources into upgrading its website, alumni database and its online application forms for internships, grants and competitions.