Studio 20 @ Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute
The program seeks to draw together a diversely talented team of students who can produce excellent work that pushes the field forward and realizes some of the possibilities inherent in a multi-media, interactive and constantly evolving platform for journalism-- namely, the World Wide Web.
Studio classes provide a "hub" for organizing activity and a common space for inquiry and reflection around the program's various projects. Students are expected to be flexible and curious, generous in sharing skills, eager to pick up new knowledge and willing to adapt to what the project--and its deadlines--demand.
The curriculum has three parts: 1.) the traditional requirements of two basic reporting classes plus "the ethics of the web;" 2.) a core of three project-based classes called Studio I, II and III; and 3.) elective enrichment courses that allow students to pursue interests and work on initiatives of their own. In their third and final semester, students design their own projects with an appropriate media partner and try to create innovation--as well as a name--for themselves.
Each year Studio 20 will recruit a mix of writers, editors, videographers, audio journalists, programmers, designers and Web producers under the principle of "bring skills, share skills, learn new stuff." Recruiting will emphasize students comfortable in more than one medium and ready to tackle new challenges. One of our mottos is: "Everyone works on everything." Another: "acquire what the project requires."
In 2009-10, one of Studio 20's major partners was the New York Times. Working with editors at the Times, students and faculty designed and planned a hyperlocal news site for the East Village neighborhood in Manhattan. It launched in September, 2010: The Local East Village.
One of the innovations that came out of that project is The Virtual Assignment Desk, a WordPress plug-in. You can read more about it here.
In 2010-11 Studio20's major project was a collaboration with ProPublica, the investigative reporting non-profit. Students experimented with the genre of "the explainer," a form of journalism that provides essential background knowledge and brings clarity to complex issues in the news. Read more here and see the project site, Explainer.net.
In 2011-12, Studio 20's major project was a collaboration with The Guardian around a different approach to election coverage. You can read a summary from the Nieman Lab. Then see the project in action on the Guardian: here and here.
In December of 2010, NYU announced that the renowned Internet thinker Clay Shirky would be joining the Carter Institute and Studio 20, where he will teach courses and consult on projects.
Think you might be interested in applying? Email studio20.journalism@nyu.edu to let us know. Tell us about yourself and your background and how we can find you and your work on the web.
Here is Studio's 20's official page at New York University's Arthur L. Carter Institute of Journalism.
Here are the official instructions on how to apply. (The initial deadline is Jan. 10; we will accept applications after that but cannot guarantee space or financial aid. Please note that the GRE General Exam is required of all applicants. See our How to Apply page for more details.
Here is a map showing where we are located.
Follow professors Jay Rosen and Jason Samuels on Twitter, as well as Clay Shirky. And check back at this site for updates.
Studio 20’s James Matthews spent the summer in Brazil. Here’s his tale about his experience:
I spent the first six weeks of the summer adapting my doctoral thesis on the Spanish Civil War for publication by Oxford University Press. I am now about half way through the rewriting stage.
For the rest of the break, I worked as an editorial intern for Thomson Reuters from their Sao Paulo bureau in Brazil. I published articles on bullet trains, sugar cane and Brazilian cowboys that were picked up by the Washington Post, New York Times International, Scientific American and the Guardian, among others (Due to licensing agreements with Reuters the content is no longer available on these sites).
Over the summer, I was also awarded a grant from the Hugh Fulton Byas Memorial Fund towards my third and final semester with Studio 20.
Learn more about James on his website.
In a guest post at Harvard’s Nieman Journalism Lab, Seth Lewis asks for input to the question “what is journalism school for?” Lewis cites Studio 20 as a 21st century approach and quotes Visiting Scholar Dave Winer:
What should the 21st century journalism school look like? Would it have a more DIY focus to prep students for freelance careers? Take a more project orientation, as in Jay Rosen’s Studio 20? Focus on teaching the right mix of analog and digital skills, as Ryan Sholin suggests? Or try to become part of the wider academic curriculum — a sort of “journalism school for all” general-education requirement, as Dave Winer recommends?
Studio 20’s James Matthews won a scholarship from the Oversees Press Club Foundation. Congratulations, James!
By Steven Safran
NYU is offering what could be a model for next-gen J-school, its Studio 20 concentration. The classes are led by Prof. Jay Rosen a longtime futurist and visionary, whom Terry and I quote often. I asked Jay about his class in an email Q&A:
Q. Was there one reason why Studio 20 came about, or was it an evolution?
ROSEN: I was chair of the journalism program at NYU from 1999 to 2005. During that time I began to sense that the old model of “magazine,” “newspaper” and “broadcast” journalism tracks was going to crash because of what was happening with the Web and the economy of the news business. So I began looking around for a different master image. That led me to graduate programs in the arts, which are often based on a studio model. In architecture school or an MFA in painting, you take studio courses and everyone has projects. The more I thought about it, the more convinced I was that the studio concept was rich enough to replace the boot camp metaphor and division by platform. But only if the projects had media partners to anchor them in the actual conditions out there today for editorial producers. So… that’s our approach: an “innovation studio,” working on projects with partners.
Q: What is the ideal student?
ROSEN: The ideal student knows before he or she enrolls that the old employment path in the news business has been disrupted; that specializing in a single platform isn’t an especially smart thing to do; that many different kinds of skills are going to be helpful and it isn’t realistic to expect J-school to simply “give” them all to you, or even to know what all of them are. At the same time, the ideal student brings to Studio 20 a level of mastery in one or two of the skills our “cool projects” approach will require, which could mean video, audio, design, production, database, programming, writing and editing, CMS systems and project management, just to name a few. The way we put this is: “bring skills, share skills, learn new stuff.” Finally, the ideal student is super comfortable with the Web and with the more open conditions the online world has brought to journalism.
Q: What will a student coming out of the class understand that a typical J-student may not?
ROSEN: How to “think with” the Web as an interactive and multi-media platform. How to reckon with the entire puzzle of sustainability. How to incorporate the users into the journalism from the beginning. How to run projects that test possibilities and bring a big learning dividend. How to iterate. How to start your own thing if you don’t see it in the world but it should exist. How to be a less dependent creature or more of a brand yourself.
Studio 20 Professor Jason Samuels won a duPont Award for producing an hour-long segment on racial profiling - “A Pattern of Suspicion” - which aired on Dateline NBC in April 2004. Watch this excerpt from the PBS program ‘Without Fear or Favor. The Best in Broadcast Journalism,” to see an interview with Samuels.
New York City has a lot of food trucks, but few people know the stories behind the vendors. Studio 20 students interviewed a few in the East Village as part of a test project for a local news blog Studio 20 is planning to launch in 2010.
Studio 20 Professor Jason Samuels was named senior producer of “Heart of the City,” a prime time documentary airing on Black Entertainment Television. The show concentrates on current issues in various African-American communities.
Read more about Samuels’ work on the show.
Associate Professor and author of the blog PressThink and creator of OfftheBus.net at the Huffington Post
Visiting Associate Professor and creator and host of PRI’s The Next Big Thing and author of the forthcoming book From Square One
Producer-in-Residence and network TV broadcast news producer, including Dateline NBC and ABC’s World News Webcast
