CINCINNATI—The E.W. Scripps Company and Google have announced that they will be working together on a multi-year initiative to help experienced journalists with primarily print news backgrounds transition their careers into broadcast news careers.
As part of the effort, Google has made a financial commitment to Scripps to underwrite the newly created Scripps Journalism Journey Initiative.
The partnership comes at a time when many print newsrooms have laid off staff and broadcasters are having difficulty filling some positions with qualified video journalists.
Journalists selected for participation in the Initiative will be hired into full-time career positions in Scripps local and national media newsrooms. The program provides mid-career transitions into video-driven storytelling through extensive training and support, including mentoring, job shadowing, hands-on work and individual coaching. Additional learning opportunities may include professional conferences, programs through the Google News Initiative, Poynter, journalism school programs, National Association of Broadcasters or Society of Professional Journalists, the companies said.
Positions may include beat/specialty reporter, specialty executive producer, photojournalist, editor/manager, documentary producer and copy editor
“Scripps and Google are making an investment in maintaining a high-quality journalism ecosystem,” said Adam Symson, Scripps president and CEO. “As a result of Google’s financial support, this program will help us retain talented print journalists in the industry by redeploying their skills and experiences into television and video news, benefitting Scripps audiences and communities across the nation.”
“This is a great opportunity to support mid-career journalists looking for new challenges or a new direction to reignite the passion that drove them into journalism in the first place,” said David Brooks, director of Global News Partnerships at Google. “Alongside Scripps, we value the importance of quality, credible content being available to news consumers.”
Scripps is currently hiring a director, a senior talent acquisition partner and a learning and development specialist for the program, which is expected to launch in Q4 2022.
Applications for the Scripps Journalism Journey Initiative are expected to be available in early summer. Those who are interested in the program can click here and request to be notified when applications are live.
