Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Arizona State University's Cronkite School Teams Up with Google News Lab to Spread Innovation

  • 06/13/16

PHOENIX, AZ – Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication is teaming up with Google News Lab to help test new tools and training and encourage their use throughout journalism education.

The school will serve as a first-of-its kind testbed for new trainings by Google News Lab through Cronkite News, the multi-platform news division of Arizona PBS, with its “teaching hospital” model of journalism education, produced by students and guided by professionals.

Google News Lab helps journalists and entrepreneurs worldwide as they find new ways to discover, create and distribute news.

“The News Lab recognizes that the future of journalism is with the journalism professors and students of today, and we're excited to work with the Cronkite School, a leader in journalism education, in this effort to further the skills of tomorrow's budding journalists," says Nicholas Whitaker, media outreach manager Google News Lab.

Starting this summer, Google News Lab staff will meet with Cronkite News faculty and students to train them on variety of journalism tools involving data visualizations, immersive storytelling, verification and fact checking, as well as audience engagement and other topics involving Google tools.

“Journalism innovation starts with experimentation,” says Cronkite School Dean Christopher Callahan. “Our students have a rare opportunity to help shape the future of journalism through this pilot with Google News Lab. We are thrilled to be the first journalism school to work on such an important project.”

At ASU, the pilot is being led by Cronkite Innovation Chief Eric Newton, who drives new, cutting-edge ideas and initiatives at Cronkite News and school-wide. In addition to its nightly television news broadcast that reaches 1.9 million households, the multi-platform news operation features web, social and mobile distribution as well as reporting bureaus in Phoenix, Washington and Los Angeles.

“Since our students already are trying new tools and techniques, this pilot with Google News Lab was a natural,” Newton says. “Journalism students today need to know the best practices of digital journalism to get that first job, but to enjoy long careers, we think they’ll need to know how to change with the times.”

The Cronkite School is widely recognized as one of the nation’s premier professional journalism programs. The school is the home of Arizona PBS, which serves as a journalistic teaching hospital for hundreds of students who work under more than a dozen full-time faculty at Cronkite News.

Featured

  • Chartwells Launches Campus Dining Evaluation Framework

    Contract food-service management provider Chartwells Higher Education recently announced the launch of BLUEPRINT, according to a news release. The evaluation framework was designed to provide a data-driven and customizable roadmap towards optimizing campus dining services and, by extension, the student experience.

  • Surging Demand for Student Housing Fuels Major Campus Investment Opportunities

    University leaders throughout the U.S. are accelerating plans to modernize and expand student housing as enrollment stabilizes and demand for on-campus living rebounds. Recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics indicates that total postsecondary enrollment is projected to grow through the end of the decade, with undergraduate enrollment alone expected to increase by more than 8 percent by 2030.

  • Rhode Island Boarding School Completes Student Dorm Renovations

    St. George’s School in Middletown, R.I., recently announced the completion of a $26-million renovation project on Arden-Diman-Eccles Dormitory, according to a news release. The school partnered with Voith & Mactavish Architects (VMA) on the new space, which places a new focus on collaborative community spaces open to both boarding students and day students.

  • Image courtesy of Kahler Slater

    UW–Madison Announces Completion of Morgridge Hall

    The University of Wisconsin–Madison recently announced that construction is complete on Morgridge Hall, a new academic building, according to a news release. The facility opened September 3 at the start of the fall semester, consolidating the School of Computer, Data & Information Sciences into a single facility for the first time.