Despite our reputation as mostly a newsroom kind of place, Poynter has deep roots in the business side of journalism.
It's the profits of the Times Publishing Co., after all, that support our ability to provide inexpensive access to extraordinary training for journalists and newsroom leaders from around the country and the world. We believe that successful management of the enterprise is essential to good journalism. As Nelson Poynter put it back in 1969, "There is a direct relationship between excellence and profit."
It was Mr. Poynter's determination to keep his publications both excellent and independent that led him to found Modern Media Institute, a non-profit school for journalists, journalism teachers, and journalism students.
Mr. Poynter willed controlling stock of the Times Publishing Co. to the Institute to assure the continued independence of the St. Petersburg Times after his death, and to commit the publishing company's dividends to elevating the standards of journalism through training and research. After his death in 1978, the Institute was renamed The Poynter Institute for Media Studies and consolidated ownership of the St. Petersburg Times and such affiliates as Congressional Quarterly, Governing, and Florida Trend magazines.
The relationship between excellence and profit has been under increasing tension in recent years as media companies struggle to find a balance between improving their journalism and improving their bottom lines. The Institute shares and reflects Nelson Poynter's belief that journalism companies have a sacred trust to tell the news to their communities. Media businesses make money not for its own sake but to sustain and improve their ability to inform citizens.
As an owner, the Institute understands the stresses between content and profit and we have developed training programs to guide news and business leaders to jointly explore their corporate values.
Poynter has grown in a lot of new directions over the years. After starting in 1975 with seminars focused on newsroom management, we added reporting, writing, and editing. Then came graphics and design. Later, broadcast. More recently, online journalism. As we've added disciplines, we've kept our approach the same: We focus on making journalism better.
>>To learn more about Nelson Poynter's life and the growth of the St. Petersburg Times and The Poynter Institute,
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