Poynter Institute
Encyclopedia
The Poynter Institute is a non-profit school for journalism located in St. Petersburg
St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It is known as a vacation destination for both American and foreign tourists. As of 2008, the population estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau is 245,314, making St...

, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

.

The school's mission statement says that "The Poynter Institute is a school dedicated to teaching and inspiring journalists and media leaders. It promotes excellence and integrity in the practice of craft and in the practical leadership of successful businesses. It stands for a journalism that informs citizens and enlightens public discourse. It carries forward Nelson Poynter’s belief in the value of independent journalism in the public interest."

The school began on May 29, 1975, when Nelson Poynter
Nelson Poynter
Nelson Poynter was an American publisher. He was born in Sullivan, Indiana in 1903. His family moved to Florida nine years later when his father bought the St. Petersburg Times. Nelson returned to Indiana to get his B.A...

, the owner and chairman of the St. Petersburg Times
St. Petersburg Times
The St. Petersburg Times is a United States newspaper. It is one of two major publications serving the Tampa Bay Area, the other being The Tampa Tribune, which the Times tops in both circulation and readership. Based in St...

and Times Publishing Company, announced that he planned to start a small journalism school called the Modern Media Institute. (The name of the school was changed to the Poynter Institute almost a decade later.)

In 1977 Nelson Poynter willed ownership of the Times Publishing Company to the Institute so that after his death the school would become the owner of the St. Petersburg Times. Poynter died on June 15, 1978 at the age of 74. He had become ill in his office just a few hours after he helped break ground for the new St. Petersburg campus of the University of South Florida.

At that point the Institute began to grow into the larger school that exists today. The current building and campus officially opened in December 1985. The school's website, Poynter Online, was launched in 1995.

The Poynter Institute teaches those who manage, edit, produce, program, report, write, blog, photograph and design, whether they belong to news organizations or work as independent entrepreneurs. It also teaches those who teach, as well as students in middle school, high school and college -- the journalists of tomorrow.

News University

News University, or NewsU, is a project of the Poynter Institute. NewsU offers newsroom training to journalists and journalism students through its interactive e-learning program and links to other journalist training opportunities. The program is a partnership between the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is an American private, non-profit foundation dedicated to supporting transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts....

and The Poynter Institute. Launched in April 2005, NewsU offers free self-directed courses, live "Webinars" and group online seminars.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK