Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation announces awards

WHAT'S GOING ON August 27, 2010 Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation announces awards $2 million in grants going to 22 journalism organizations February 19, 2010 Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation Announces $1.56 Million in Grants to Journalism Organizations September 1, 2009 Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation Announces New Grant Guidelines with Major Focus on Investigative Reporting August 1, 2009 Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation Announces $1.8 Million in Grants to Journalism Organizations February 10, 2009 Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation Announces $1.27 Million in Grants to Journalism Organizations August 8, 2008 Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation Announces $1.85 Million in Grants to Journalism Organizations In the spotlight: Project Pearl: The Bravest Class in Town Will a dogged group of college students in D.C. solve the grisly murder of journalist Danny Pearl before the FBI does? Interview by Abigail Pesta Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation announces awards $2 million in grants going to 22 journalism organizations OKLAHOMA CITY --- Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation announced today the distribution of $2 Million in grants to 22 journalism organizations nationwide. Founded by Edith Kinney Gaylord, Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundations mission is to invest in the future of journalism by building the ethics, skills and opportunities needed to advance principled, probing news and information. The current financial challenges facing news media pose a threat to journalism, said Bob Ross, President and CEO of Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation. The grants announced today will help many nonprofit organizations provide a source of news and information to citizens throughout the country. Grants were awarded to organizations for projects addressing the Foundations core areas of focus as follows: Investigative Reporting $100,000 to Florida Center for Investigative Reporting for a bilingual investigative journalism website focusing exclusively on corruption and waste in Florida's government. $100,000 to Online Journalism Project for first year expenses of Connecticut Health Investigative Team, an investigative-oriented health, safety and medical news website for Connecticut. $100,000 to Capitol News Connection to lauch Report It, a self-sustaining social reporting platform, creating high impact, user-driven investigative stories. $100,000 to Watchdog Institute to analyze government data and make it available for searches by the public on the Internet. $80,000 to MinnPost for a program at University of Minnesota's School of Journalism to produce investigative reporting projects that will run on MinnPost.com. $75,000 to Boston University for The Public Eye, a pilot project providing a monthly data-driven investigative story to small/medium size newsrooms for a sliding scale fee. Professional Development $255,000 to Carole Kneeland Project for Responsible Television Journalism for seminars and webinars on ethical decision-making, newsroom systems and coaching, action planning, managing alternative news sources, local news expansion and content options. $125,000 to Institute for Justice and Journalism for Immigration in the Heartland 2011 fellowships in affiliation with University of Oklahoma's Gaylord College and OU's Institute for Research and Training. $75,000 to Online News Association for services, training and resources to expand and refine professional development offerings. $70,000 to University of California, Berkeley for 6-day workshops that train professional journalists in multimedia and digital media reporting and in producing multimedia web projects. $60,000 to Institutes for Journalism & Natural Resources for the Energy Country Institute and the Puget Sound Institute, expedition-style learning programs that offer specialized training for journalists working in print, radio, television and online. $53,000 to American University for J-Lab's development of Rules of the Road, an e-learning module on the ethical challenges facing community journalists, and for training at major journalism gatherings for mainstream, new digital and citizen journalists, and journalism educators. $25,000 to Society for News Design Foundation for Web Design Boot Camps on web-based applications emerging in the digital media age. Youth Education $70,000 to Youth News Service Los Angeles Bureau for the Foster Youth Writing Project, a forum for teens in foster care, and for the Satellite Bureau at Lock High School. $67,200 to Oklahoma Newspaper Foundation for the 2011 summer internship program placing college journalism students into the newsrooms of Oklahoma's community newspapers. $25,000 to University of Texas at El Paso for a student directed multimedia investigative reporting project. $21,339 to Harding Charter Preparatory High School for technology updates. Special Opportunities $150,000 to iFOCOS for We Media PitchIt! Challenge, a competition to identify the most promising ideas for innovative new communication products and services, offering seed capital and expert advice to winners in addition to helping entrepreneurs, mentors and funders collaborate. $134,000 to George Washington University for the 2010-2011 series of four Kalb Report forums on the transformation of journalism and its impact on our democracy. $100,000 to University of Kansas for the Midwest Democracy Project, a collaboration of the University of Missouri Journalism Institute, the University of Kansas School of Journalism and The Kansas City Star to develop new and better ways for citizens to get and give trustworthy information. $84,000 to Student Press Law Center for the Attorney Advocate position and related free services provided to high school and college journalists. $67,000 to Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press for an entry-level legal fellowship to handle all inquiries and projects related to libel, privacy and reporter's privilege issues. $50,000 to Capitol News Connection to provide localized and interactive issue-focused investigative reporting from Congress to community public radio stations seeking in-depth coverage. To learn more about Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, visitwww.journalism foundation.org or call 405-604-5388. ###