Knight Center for Specialized Journalism

The Knight Center for Specialized Journalism, www.knightcenter.umd.edu, was an organization through the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland.  It was announced in December 2009 that the center would cease operations, but this center has been providing resources for journalists since 1987.  The center was founded 22 years ago with support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to provide seminars and educational fellowships.  The Knight Foundation has donated over $20 million to the university.

The in the announcement of the center’s closing, the Dean Kevin Klose of the Journalism College states one of the centers achievements is providing in-depth training for journalists to improve their competencies.  Knight Center has worked with over 2,700 journalists from over 500 news organizations.  At the Knight Center, professionals received specialized training on their beats whether that was law, health, or science.

The Knight Center Web Site is organized to highlight Knight Center programs and seminars that it offered.  The front page of the site highlights recent or upcoming events, such as the closing announcement.  It also mentions things such as seminars and archived webinars.  A video runs on the right hand side of the page, but it does not always load unfortunately leaving just a black square.  Scrolling down the site, the purpose of the Knight Center is restated, but more importantly on the right hand side is information pertinent to journalists. 

Seminars with pertinent dates and descriptions are listed, although they are out-of-date due to the cease of operations.  A multimedia section also highlights a video by someone in the profession and underneath that Beat Guides are available.  For example, there is a guide currently posted to give advice to Business reporters.  General advice is given, as well as information on specific companies, market information, and useful web links.

At the top of the Web Site, there are tabs to learn more about the seminars and fellowships, but more important to working journalists is the resources tab.  This tab is really where this site benefits journalists by providing beat guides and source lists.  The guides provide information similar to that of the previous example of business reporting, but the source lists are a place journalists could easily go to begin a story.  They provide advice and sources that would be relevant depending on the nature of the story.  For example, there is a source list for understanding the big picture of our economy.  The site suggests going to the IMF World Economic Outlook for information on the current financial crisis.

Most of the information on the site addresses more traditional journalism practices, however the inclusion of the multimedia section showed a recognition of journalism changes.  Some of the final seminars the center offered were focused on the changes of new media, such as how foreign reporting is affected by the changing role of Media.  In the announcement of the closing, one of the reasons cited was the changing role of journalism and the new thinking that is required for the new technology.

Overall, I would rate this site a 4 out of 5.  It is a shame that the center is closing, because the information provided to journalists such as source lists and reporting advice is quite good.  It gives journalists a place to go when researching a story.  My only complaint about the site would be the fact that the outdated seminar information still dominates the screen.  They should focus more on the resources instead of past conferences because that is where the most beneficial information lies.