ASU's Cronkite School hosts Dow Jones News Fund interns for digital media training

Top student journalists from across the country are at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication for intensive journalism training as part of a special internship program through Dow Jones News Fund.

Twenty college students, including three from the Cronkite School, are on the ASU Downtown Phoenix campus this week, receiving the latest digital media training before they head to paid summer internships at news organizations, including The Miami Herald, The Arizona Republic, Austin American-Statesman, Storyful, International Center for Journalists and Hawaii News Now, among others.

The Cronkite School is the only institution in the country serving as a DJNF-sponsored digital training center for students. In all, 80 students have been selected for DJNF digital media training at the Cronkite School since 2013. Five other universities offer instruction in areas such as business reporting, data journalism and news editing.

In response to growing demand for digital training, Director of Cronkite Career Services Mike Wong said this year’s cohort has been expanded to include more students. He said the DJNF typically sends a dozen students, he said.

“We’re excited to be training more students this year than in previous years,” said Wong, who leads the DJNF program at Cronkite. “It shows you where the industry is today and the growing emphasis for an employee to possess 21st-century digital skills. We thank the DJNF and all of the employers with entrusting us with their summer interns.”

The nine-day training program includes lessons in visual storytelling, social media analytics, audience engagement, basic coding and podcast production. Following the program’s conclusion, students spend 10-12 weeks at paid digital internships across the nation.

“We expect this dynamic programming in 2018 to have significant impact for news organizations and aspiring journalists in an increasingly demanding, digital industry,” said Linda Shockley, managing director of Dow Jones News Fund.

Launched in 1960, the DJNF summer internship program supports seven training sites at leading journalism schools. This year, 82 undergraduate and graduate students were selected from more than 730 applicants for the program. Of the 82 selected, four program participants are from the Cronkite School. Interns returning to college receive $1,000 scholarships.

The Dow Jones News Fund is a nonprofit organization supported by the Dow Jones Foundation, Dow Jones and Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal and other news industry organizations. Its mission is to encourage high school and college students to pursue journalism careers by sponsoring workshops and providing internships. It also offers ongoing training and grant-funded programs for educators.

The 2018 Dow Jones digital media interns and their assignments are:

Elizabeth Backo
Ohio University
The Arizona Republic

Neetish Basnet 
University of Texas at Arlington

Dallas Business Journal


Elizabeth Castillo 
California State University, Chico
CALmatters

Brooke Fisher

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
American City Business Journals


Samantha Gebers 
Arizona State University
Hawaii News Now


Angela Gervasi
Temple University
Lexington Herald-Leader

Kathryn Hardison 
University of Missouri
Storyful

Justin Hicks

New York University
San Angelo Standard-Times


Sierra Juarez 
University of Texas at Austin

The Arizona Republic

Lauren Lee
Pennsylvania State University
Centre Daily Times

Christian Marquez 
University of New Mexico

Searchlight New Mexico


Cecilia Mazanec
University of Florida
The Palm Beach Post

Narda Perez 
University of Texas at Arlington

Austin American-Statesman


Cristobal Reyes-Rios
University of Central Florida
The Miami Herald

Charlene Santiago
Arizona State University
Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Eric Schmid
Stony Brook University
AccuWeather

Divya Thirunagari
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
International Center for Journalists

Tess Vrbin 
University of Missouri
The Kansas City Star

Austin Westfall 
Arizona State University
Hawaii News Now

Paolo Zialcita
University of Nevada, Reno

Connecticut Public Radio