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Nonprofit Update: Headlines to Write in 2006
Expenses-paid workshop for journalists interested in covering nonprofits
May 17-21 at Marshall UniversityYou must apply by March 1
IRE's Brant Houston and Aron Pilhofer, database editor at The New York Times, and other leading journalists and experts on the tax-exempt community, will lead a workshop at Marshall University in May that will help journalists interested in covering philanthropy, the business of charities and the political side of nonprofits. The workshop will be held May 17-21, and it won't cost journalists anything to attend.
Tuition and travel expenses will be covered by The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which has awarded the Marshall University School of Journalism and Mass Communications a $167,000 grant to help journalists who cover nonprofit organizations.
To Apply
Deadline for applications is March 1. There is no application form. Simply send your resume, a letter of interest explaining how the program will benefit you and your news organization, and a letter of support from your supervisor saying how it will benefit the organization and giving you time off to attend. Applicants also may opt to use their vacation time. Please visit www.fetsnews.com for background on the program. E-mail morrisb@marshall.edu or call Burnis Morris at 304-638-3322 for additional information.The grant means that The Fourth Estate and The Third Sector, the only national training program of its kind for journalists who cover nonprofits, is moving to Marshall University after four years at the University of Mississippi. It also expands the program's outreach to Washington and the northeast.
Burnis R. Morris, Marshall's Carter G. Woodson Professor, created the program in 2001 as a member of the journalism faculty at Mississippi. Knight Foundation transferred the grant to Marshall after Morris joined the school's permanent faculty in 2005.
"Nonprofits are important engines of community life in every U.S. city and town," said Alberto Ibarguen, president and CEO of Knight Foundation. "This program has done much to expose U.S. journalists to important issues, stories, trends and sources."
Dean Corley Dennison said, "This is a major initiative for the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Marshall University. I believe this is the first significant Knight Foundation Grant to be awarded in the state of West Virginia and is quite appropriate since John S. Knight, one of the giants of 20th century journalism, was born in Bluefield, W. Va., in 1894."
The Fourth Estate and the Third Sector is an outgrowth of Morris's work involving nonprofits and journalism. From 1993 to 1997, Morris helped Independent Sector, a Washington-based national leadership forum, hold conferences at five journalism schools on improving news coverage of the tax-exempt community. He also wrote two books offering journalists advice on coverage.
After he joined the Ole Miss faculty in 1998, Morris proposed a national training program that would be based at Ole Miss and funded by Knight. The first of the Knight training programs was held in 2002.
Morris, a former reporter and editor with some of the nation's top news organizations, said he "wants journalists to think of nonprofits as a serious beat — the way they think about politics, business and government. I want my profession to cover the nonprofit community as aggressively as they cover other important beats. I don't want anyone to attend a fundraiser for a charity and take pictures of rich people drinking wine and eating brie, and think they've covered a charity. I want journalists to realize they have a lot more work to do."
At Marshall, Morris will direct a program for 20 journalism fellows who will study nonprofits and journalism May 17-21, 2006. The fellows, selected from news organizations throughout the country, will study such topics as philanthropy, accountability, tax rules, politics, fundraising and reading and understanding financial data. In addition to Brant Houston and Aron Pilhofer, presenters will include experts on philanthropy, accounting, federal regulation, politics and other issues.
Deadline for applications is March 1. There is no application form. Simply send your resume, a letter of interest explaining how the program will benefit you and your news organization, and a letter of support from your supervisor saying how it will benefit the organization and giving you time off to attend. Applicants also may opt to use their vacation time. Please visit www.fetsnews.com for background on the program. E-mail morrisb@marshall.edu or call Burnis Morris at 304-638-3322 for additional information.
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes excellence in journalism worldwide and invests in the vitality of 26 U.S. communities. Over the past 50 years, the foundation has invested nearly $250 million in journalism initiatives.
Send correspondence to:
Burnis R. Morris,
Carter G. Woodson Professor
Marshall University School of Journaism and Mass Communications
One John Marshall Drive
Huntington, WV 25755
Phone: (304) 638-3322
E-mail: morrisb@marshall.edu
