ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (April 2, 2018) – The Poynter Institute, a global leader in journalism, has named Cheryl Carpenter as its new leadership faculty member. Carpenter, the digitally savvy editor who previously served as the McClatchy Bureau Chief in Washington D.C. and Managing Editor at The Charlotte Observer, will direct Poynter’s growing leadership and local news innovation initiatives.
Poynter is offering more leadership programs in 2018 than ever in its 43-year history. Carpenter will help Poynter enhance its flagship programs, the Leadership Academy and Essential Skills for Newsroom Leaders, and expand programs that focus on diversity in leadership, such as the Leadership Academy for Women in Digital Media and Leadership Academy for Diversity in Digital Media.
In addition to her Pulitzer Prize credentials, Carpenter brings expertise as a journalism instructor to the position. She studied leadership during a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University, designed and taught Poynter’s digital leadership courses in South Africa as visiting faculty and was a T. Anthony Pollner Distinguished Professor at the University of Montana. Carpenter earned a master's degree in organizational development from Queens University while working as an editor at The Charlotte Observer.
“Cheryl has a fabulous combination of journalism judgment, leadership and digital sensibility,” Poynter Vice President Kelly McBride said. “She’s been a Poynter adjunct faculty member for a long time and understands our style of teaching and enthusiastically embraces it. As an accomplished woman leader, she will be able to contribute to our efforts to widen the pipeline for women in journalism.”
To meet increased demand for Poynter’s Leadership Academy for Women in Digital Media and address timely topics such as the #metoo movement, Poynter added two additional academies and two one-day workshops for women leaders in 2018.
“Like thousands of journalists, I have benefited greatly from Poynter's guidance,” Carpenter said. “This opportunity gives me a chance to learn from a lot of smart people who are in Poynter's network and who are leading and experimenting through these times of upheaval. If you love journalism and care about where it's headed, Poynter is a great place to be.”
The emergence of new platforms, massive audience shifts and the erosion of public trust in the media are remaking journalism in profound ways. In addition to directing Poynter’s leadership trainings, Carpenter will oversee The Poynter Local News Innovation Program, which is part of the Knight-Lenfest Newsroom Initiative that brings together leaders from legacy newsrooms to transform their digital strategies. Carpenter’s success building online audiences at McClatchy, through expansion of digital products and video, will be an asset to this program.
Carpenter will take the position vacated by long-time Poynter leadership faculty member Butch Ward, who retired in 2017.
"Cheryl Carpenter has a particular gift for recognizing the stories that matter most to a community – and she knows how to create a newsroom environment in which such journalism thrives,” Ward said. “Most importantly, she knows how to develop other leaders who aspire to nurture such an environment. In her, Poynter is offering the journalism community access to a woman who can make serious newsrooms better."
Carpenter starts as Leadership Faculty at Poynter on April 2, 2018.
Applications are open for these upcoming leadership trainings at Poynter:
- Summit for Reporters and Editors in Multi-Platform Newsrooms — May 6-11, 2018
- Poynter Leadership Academy — October 14-19, 2018
- Essential Skills for Rising Newsroom Leaders — December 9-14, 2018
About The Poynter Institute
The Poynter Institute for Media Studies is a global leader in journalism education and a strategy center that stands for uncompromising excellence in journalism, media and 21st century public discourse. Poynter faculty teach seminars and workshops at the Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., and at conferences and organizational sites around the world. Its e-learning division, News University, www.newsu.org, offers the world’s largest online journalism curriculum in 7 languages, with more than 400 interactive courses and registered users in more than 200 countries. The Institute’s website, www.poynter.org, produces 24-hour coverage of news about media, ethics, technology, the business of news and the trends that currently define and redefine journalism news reporting. The world’s top journalists and media innovators come to Poynter to learn and teach new generations of reporters, storytellers, media inventors, designers, visual journalists, documentarians and broadcast producers, and to build public awareness about journalism, media, the First Amendment and protected discourse that serves democracy and the public good.
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