WASHINGTON, D.C. — The St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Poynter Institute is partnering with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in announcing a new six-month fellowship designed to strengthen the leadership and editorial excellence of public media station managers.
The Executive Editorial Integrity and Leadership Initiative will offer local public media executives who oversee stations with local newsrooms the opportunity to strengthen their editorial and business capacity.
As CPB and Poynter see it, the initiative will equip station managers “with the vision and support they need to uphold public media’s highest editorial standards and advance the goals for every part of their station — greenlighting innovation, developing effective partnerships, managing budgets, enforcing editorial firewalls and fostering a high-performing, robust culture that prioritizes institutional evolution and growth.”
Kathy Merritt, CPB’s SVP of Radio, Journalism and Community Service Grants, commented, “Over the past decade, public media stations have added almost a thousand full- and part-time journalists, totaling 4,400 journalists today at stations. At a time when the craft of journalism is under increased scrutiny, it is critical that public media general managers have the support and expertise needed to lead local newsrooms in a rapidly changing media environment.”
The new fellowship seeks to train 50 public media executives in two cohorts of 25 — one in 2025 and one in 2026. Station managers will work with Poynter’s expert instructors and coaches, starting with an in-person week at Poynter in Pinellas County Fla., followed by virtual trainings every other week during the six-month program. Fellows will learn from and support one another, creating bonds that last beyond the life of the program. They will develop their ethical decision-making skills and leadership abilities.
Each participant will create an executive leadership action plan drawn from their strategy and vision for their news organization and informed by a range of tools, frameworks and coaching that begins during the in-person week at Poynter.
“We hope to better equip these leaders with the knowledge, tools and best practices to help them lead their stations today and into the future,” said Kerwin Speight, Poynter leadership faculty. “As the media landscape changes, station managers need support to adapt, adjust and effectively lead.”
The success of the Editorial Integrity and Leadership Initiative program helped inform this initiative, CPB and Poynter notes.
Applications for the first cohort of Executive Editorial Integrity and Leadership Initiative close Friday, Dec. 6. Selected participants will be notified in January and convene in St. Petersburg for five days, April 28 through May 2. Applications for the second cohort will launch in 2025.
