Scripps Howard Foundation Wire

05/13/2016

The Semester in Washington program, supported and managed by the Scripps Howard Foundation, will go on a temporary hiatus, effective May 2016. As The E.W. Scripps Company evolves along with the industry, the Foundation has decided to halt the program to rethink and rebuild it. The program was founded in 1999 and has provided real-world journalism opportunities to students across the country and other parts of the world.
The Foundation will explore new ideas and possible partnerships with colleges or universities to redesign a semester internship program to best meet our mission of educating, empowering and preparing journalism students for a successful future. Stay tuned for a future announcement of what the Foundation will offer next. The program will accept new applicants when the new program is announced.
Q&A
Q: What is Semester in Washington?
A: Semester in Washington is a program of the Scripps Howard Foundation. It is a year-round journalism internship program founded in 1999 and based in the Scripps Washington Bureau. The program director, assisted by a post-graduate multimedia fellow, trains undergraduate journalism students to report in Washington. Their multimedia stories appear on the program’s website www.shfwire.com and are made available to any news organization that agrees to give the intern a byline and credit the program. The foundation pays stipends to the interns and provides free housing.
Q: Who participates?
A: College juniors and seniors studying journalism at any U.S. university could apply. The program also takes two international students a year and reserves slots for students from the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University, the Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications at Hampton University, Florida International University and the University of Texas at El Paso.
Q: Why was the program halted?
A: With the program director’s decision to retire following the spring 2016 semester and changes to The E.W. Scripps Company over the past year, the Foundation board decided now is the right time to rethink and rebuild the program. The Foundation intends to have a semester internship program. Foundation staff welcomes ideas for developing a program that closely resembles the changing media landscape. The Foundation will consider a variety of goals, partnerships and locations for the revamped program.
Q: When could we expect the program to start again?
A: The Foundation is developing a plan and timeline for the redesign process. We will keep you apprised of any decisions for a new journalism program.
Q: What happened to the journalism interns?
A: About 40 percent of the approximately 400 former interns work in journalism today at newspapers, television stations and digital media. Others moved to other careers after a number of years in the news business.
Q: What will happen to the website and the students’ work?
A: The website will be maintained so readers and former interns will have access to their work.
Q: What will happen to the staff?
A: Program director Jody Beck had long planned to retire in 2016. The foundation will assist post-graduate fellow Heather Khalifa in her hunt for a new job. Her fellowship was to last through mid-August 2016.
Q: What will happen to the interns and applicants for 2016 programs?
A: The fall interns finished their term Dec. 15. The spring program will go on as planned, from Jan. 7 to April 13. The program will cease operations April 13, meaning there will be no summer, short course or fall program during 2016.
Q: What will happen now?
A: The foundation will use the next few months to examine how it can continue to provide high-quality programs to help educate student journalists, either in Washington or elsewhere.
Q: How can I find out what happens?
A: Check in with the Scripps Howard Foundation website: http://www.scripps.com/foundation and the foundation’s page: https://www.facebook.com/scrippshowardfoundation/?fref=ts

04/14/2016

A new report finds that U.S. companies have trillions of dollars invested overseas and that many large companies pay fare less than the corporate tax rate of 35 percent.

The 50 biggest U.S. companies relied on a secretive network of more than 1,600 disclosed subsidiaries in tax havens to stash more than a trillion dollars offshore, according to an Oxfam America report released Thursday.

04/13/2016

Flint, Mich., isn't the only community in the country with a problematic water system. Across the country, cities and towns face crumbling pipes for water and sewer - failure could mean no water or overflowing sewage treatment system. Fixing the problems will cost a trillion dollars over 25 years.

04/13/2016

It's the final day of the spring Semester in Washington Program and the start of the hiatus. Stay tuned for news about the revised program. But we celebrated the last day for this group. A couple of selfies with E.W. Scripps in the bureau and a nice lunch. It's been a fun and productive semester.

04/13/2016

"It will take time for MLS to rival European leagues, in both tradition and level of play. But embracing the sport, as Americans seem to be doing, and investing in the league and its teams is also helpful."

04/12/2016

The Semester in Washington program is winding down for the time being. Just one more day with the interns. Former interns from the University of Texas at El Paso's student newspaper, The Prospector, and their adviser, Kathy Flores sent these beautiful flowers and a box of chocolates. Thanks to current UTEP intern Luis Gonzalez and all the others!

04/12/2016

DC United has a loyal following among soccer fans, but some fans of the sport are loyal to teams in England or Spain. Informal clubs gather at specific bars, no matter the time of day, to watch their favorite teams.

Week in and week out, supporters gather at unconventional hours to devote their total attention to games being played thousands of miles away. There are no side conversations, no email, no Facebook or Snapchat. They chant, curse, scream, cringe and drink - just as fans in the stadium do. But they ar…

04/12/2016

Academy award winning actress Patricia Arquette and President Barack Obama were among those campaigning to close the gender pay gap on Equal Pay Day.

On Equal Pay Day, President Barack Obama designated a new national monument to honor women’s equality while officials all over the District talked pay equity.

04/11/2016

Gentrification and redevelopment have changed the face of Washington over the past few years. Now it's crossing the Anacostia River, where some of the city's poorest residents live in some of its most historic neighborhoods. Some people welcome the change and others fear it will force them out. See what Heather Khalifa, Luis Gonzalez and Erica King have found out.

Redevelopment and gentrification have slowly changed the racial landscape of the city once referred to by some residents and the funk band Parliament as the real Chocolate City.

04/08/2016

Baseball is the only pro sport that turns the first day of the season into a near holiday, with parades, people who skip work and ceremonial first pitches.

For the 11th time since baseball returned to the nation’s capital, the Washington Nationals opened their home season Thursday as they hosted the Florida Marlins in front of a sellout crowd.

04/08/2016

Antiquities experts say the Islamic State group funds its operations partly through the sale of looted artifacts. The group urged Congress to act on a bill to tighten the rules and said world leaders need to take action.

The Islamic State group receives millions of dollars by selling stolen, ancient artifacts from Middle Eastern countries to contribute to war expenses. Some of those artifacts end up on U.S. soil. A group of archeologists and researchers met Thursday at the Woodrow Wilson Center to discuss the growin…

04/07/2016

First lady Michelle hosted a celebration at the White House Wednesday afternoon. Story at shfwire.com. SHFWire photo by Erick Payne