8 leading programs in entrepreneurial journalism

Here are links that describe eight leading university programs in entrepreneurial journalism. What are some other programs that I should include in this series?

Medill builds on 30 years of entrepreneurial journalism

Students work in teams in this program at Northwestern University.

Columbia focuses on coaching journalism execs 

Punch Sulzberger program emphasizes developing the organization by coaching a key executive.

Dan Gillmor: We need more experiments on revenue side of media startups 

Arizona State professor urges more focus on sustainability.

Online courses play bigger role in entrepreneurial journalism

Poynter's NewsU aims to make distance learning as effective as a classroom experience.

In Mexico, innovative selection process for entrepreneurial journalism 

University of Guadalajara's master's is offered in Spanish and completely online.

CUNY aims to incubate new media

Students work with New York City's media innovators. 

At American U., media entrepreneurship includes NGOs

Mid-career executives refine their organizations' strategies.

At Cronkite School, students get hands-on experience
Developers, engineers and journalism majors work together.

Universities can lead in incubation of new business models
Mark Briggs: make the classroom a center for experimentation

Related:

My Mooc experience and what it means
Working professionals thrive on online courses

How journalist built his brand from college dorm room

Brian Stelter of the New York Times reaches out through social media

Journalists selling ads: think of it as a fair exchange

How to get over the fear of selling

Review: How to Make Money Publishing Community News Online 

Robert Niles offers practical advice to hyperlocal media entrepreneurs

Medill builds on 30 years of entrepreneurial journalism

Seventh in a series on entrepreneurial journalism programs at universities and media organizations. 

Rich Gordon, Director of Digital
Innovation, Medill School of
Journalism, Northwestern U.

Rich Gordon is bemused by the recent proliferation of university programs in entrepreneurial journalism. The Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University has been doing it for 30 years.

"We had classes here in our master's program where we required our students to create new publications and address the content, the audience, and the business plan of these publications," Gordon, director of digital innovation, said in an interview.

"I assume other schools didn't do it because it wasn't considered appropriate for journalists to be talking about business, students didn't want it, faculty couldn't teach it, and the job market didn't ask for it. I don't think the term 'entrepreneurial journalism' even existed a few years ago."

Journalists selling ads: think of it as a fair exchange

When I was going through the transition from editor of a business publication to the role of publisher, I dreaded sales calls with clients.

It meant I had to ask clients for money, which was a new and uncomfortable experience. The hilarious irony of this is that, as a reporter and editor, it was my job to ask people much tougher, more-intrusive questions, and I did it with no problem -- grieving parents about the death of their child, a political candidate about his sexual escapades, a business executive about her salary.

How tough could it be for a former reporter to ask an advertiser for money? (I borrow this example from Robert Niles's book.) Not that tough, as it turns out.

Columbia focuses on coaching journalism execs

Doug Smith
Executive Director
Punch Sulzberger Program

Sixth in a series on entrepreneurial journalism programs at universities and media organizations. 

Columbia Journalism School's Punch Sulzberger Program differs from other programs in this series in several ways. 

Like them, it is entrepreneurial in focusing on innovation and transforming of a media enterprise. But the biggest difference is that it focuses on changing the enterprise rather than on mainly developing skills of an individual.

The participant is supposed to recruit people within and outside the media enterprise (for-profit, non-profit, public) to drive measurable change. The success of any individual participant in the program is based on metrics of the enterprise. 

Dan Gillmor: We need more experiments on revenue side of media startups

Fifth in a series on entrepreneurial journalism programs at universities and media organizations. 

Dan Gillmor, Founding Director
Knight Center for Digital Media
Entrepreneurship, Arizona State U.

Dan Gillmor is recognized as an expert in new digital media, but when he teaches entrepreneurship, he has a broader vision than just media.

He sees media as one part of an entrepreneurial culture where people are creating thousands of new enterprises. He sees a society where people are participants and not just employees. "I don't think we can call ourselves literate unless we're creating stuff, not in the world we're in," he says. In other words, we are the media, and we are media-active, to play on the titles of two of his books.

He teaches at the Knight Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship at Arizona State University. University journalism programs can play a part in creating a new media ecosystem to replace the one whose business model is collapsing, he says. But so can other university departments, training organizations, journalism nonprofits, traditional media, startups, and individuals with no credentials but with valuable experience to share. "My attitude is, the more people who want to be in the mix, the better."

How journalist built his brand from college dorm room

Brian Stelter
2012 Media Bistro photo

Brian Stelter is my favorite example of how a young person can create a personal brand and build it into a career. I have talked about him in presentations in Latin America and Europe and his story never fails to make an impression. 

When he was a freshman at Towson University in Maryland in 2004, he launched his CableNewser blog with news and commentary about the coverage of the Iraq War by CNN, Fox News and MSNBC. He soon attracted a loyal audience of influential TV industry executives. No one dreamed the blog was by a college student.

He eventually parlayed his blogging experience into a job covering media at the New York Times, but that is getting ahead of the story.

Online courses play bigger role in entrepreneurial journalism

Fourth in a series on entrepreneurial journalism programs at universities and media organizations. 

The Poynter Institute's online training center, NewsU, is building out its offerings in entrepreneurial journalism with the goal of creating a certificate program. It is one of the few organizations doing this kind of training mainly online. 

Howard Finberg
Poynter Institute, NewsU

NewsU already has eight courses, webinars and training videos that fit under the entrepreneurial umbrella and plans on developing more. These training modules are focused on helping journalists and news organizations stay competitive as digital media change the nature of their work, says NewsU's founder, Howard Finberg. 

“We're training people along two tracks. We're reshaping the traditional mass media business model to be more entrepreneurial and independent of major corporations. We're also training journalists to be more self-sufficient. We're giving them the skills to work across disciplines in ways they didn't have to when we were in school. We're changing the organizational and economic approach to training the people who do journalism.”