About ASNE@USF
and the High School Journalism Institutes

What can we do about the future of journalism?

How can we get young people interested in careers with newspapers and news organizations?

Why is this vital for our democracy?

The American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) has directly addressed these questions each summer since 2001 with several High School Journalism Institutes, a two-week, expenses-paid training program for high school teachers who advise their newspaper, or will soon advise it.

All are generously funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

ASNE chose a handful of journalism-accredited universities to each host an Institute, including the School of Mass Communications at the University of South Florida. USF is one of the only universities to host the Institute since it began in 2001.

Through an application process, ASNE and the participating universities each choose between 32-35 high school journalism advisors to become ASNE High School Journalism Institute Fellows. Every summer almost 200 journalism advisors attend Institutes.

According to ASNE:

"The Institute's overall goals are to:

Produce teachers who are better informed about the operations, practices, news values and ethical decision making in the craft of journalism.

Develop the writing, editing, graphic, Web and business skills that teachers need to better advise students and to start or improve independent school newspapers.

Shift the focus of many high school newspapers to fair and balanced news reporting and writing rather than essay writing and public relations pieces.

Instill a greater understanding of, and appreciation for, the First Amendment."

Find out more about the ASNE High School Journalism Institutes and Initiatives, including how to apply.

Read ASNE@USF's online newspaper, the Institute Herald