The Carnegie Corporation of New York and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation have announced plans for a three-year journalism initiative designed for undergrads.  The program is designed to help journalism students adapt to changes in the field of communications while still applying traditional media techniques.  There will also be a strong emphasis on international relations.

The twelve schools selected to participate in the initiative are the University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill, Northwestern University, the University of Missouri, the University of California at Berkeley, Arizona State University, the University of Maryland, Columbia University, Syracuse University, the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas--Austin, and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.  As part of the program, each school will work with News21, an experimental news outlet.

UNC-Chapel Hill has been given an initial grant of $250,000 and will eventually receive $720,000 from the Carnegie-Knight Initiative.  The initiative will also help UNC-CH to form connections with universities in Africa, South America, England, and other regions.

The goal of the Carnegie-Knight Initiative will be to ready students for a career in the ever-changing and ever-adapting, worldwide field of journalism.