Poynter Announces Private Support for Groundbreaking New Initiatives to Advance Community Engagement, Innovation and Journalistic Excellence

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Oct. 16, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Poynter Institute is announcing private funding support for three major initiatives that will support its new strategic direction in several areas: to build and share thought leadership with the community, to ignite innovation and to promote and advance women in journalism leadership and media innovation.

Among the initiatives will be The Frank E. Duckwall Foundation Community Conversations @ Poynter, created with collaborative support from the Frank E. Duckwall Foundation. It is the first in a sponsored series of public dialogues led by some of the most innovative minds in the world, hosted and shared by Poynter. The premiere event will be held at Poynter as an interactive public dialogue that will bring a 21^st century global thought leader to the community. The speaker will lead a discussion of some of the most important issues and ideas of our time, including topics on teaching, thought leadership and opportunities in media, business, ethics, law and community leadership.

Poynter is also pleased to announce the introduction of its Women in Leadership Scholarship, the first in a series of critical support programs for the advancement of women at this pivotal time for the industry and its importance to an informed and inclusive electorate. This fund, made possible by donations from private funders, will provide women with the opportunity to advance their leadership roles and to grow the scope, influence and impact of women leaders in journalism and the media. The scholarship supports Poynter's goal of encouraging both young women to take on the roles of leadership needed in the industry, as well as veterans, who need an expanded network of colleagues and mentors to achieve their leadership objectives.

Additionally, Poynter's Innovators in Residence program will help bring a visionary, dynamic thought leader to advise Poynter faculty on how to best meet journalism's need to be nimble, inclusive and dynamic in unprecedented ways in a continuously shifting media landscape. In coming to Poynter, this revolutionary practitioner will help teach, write, research, brainstorm and coach to share and ignite ideas about change and excellence in journalism, media, public affairs, technology and community engagement. The program is slated to begin with the announcement of Poynter's first Innovator in Residence in the beginning of 2015.

About The Poynter Institute
The Poynter Institute for Media Studies is an international leader in journalism education, and a strategy center that stands for uncompromising excellence in journalism, media and 21st century public discourse. Poynter faculty teach seminars and workshops at the Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., and at conferences and organizational sites around the world. Its e-learning division, News University, www.newsu.org, offers the world's largest online journalism curriculum in 6 languages, with more than 400 interactive courses and 290,000 registered users in more than 200 countries. The Institute's website, www.poynter.org, produces 24-hour coverage of news about media, ethics, technology, the business of news and the trends that currently define and redefine journalism news reporting. The world's top journalists and media innovators come to Poynter to learn and teach new generations of reporters, storytellers, media inventors, designers, visual journalists, documentarians and broadcast producers, and to build public awareness about journalism, media, the First Amendment and protected discourse that serves democracy and the public good.

Contact
Kim Tobin
Marketing Communications Strategy Manager
The Poynter Institute
[email protected]
727-553-4707

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SOURCE The Poynter Institute