Arizona university gets $1.9M to research future of TV news

Arizona State University's journalism school on Thursday was awarded nearly $2 million in funding to research the future of television news.

The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication received the $1.9 million grant from the Knight Foundation that will provide funding over three years to fund initiatives aimed at ensuring TV news companies remain competitive in broadcast and digital storytelling.

Chief among the goals is the establishment of an online hub where newsrooms can see the latest strategies their counterparts elsewhere are trying out.

"The best way I can describe it is I think it's going to be a resource where someone can come to this site from anywhere and get a sense of what new ideas are floating around in space, what works and what doesn't," said Cronkite Associate Dean Mark Lodato.

The school also plans to become a testing ground for improved local news content and dissemination.

"In an academic space like ASU, you can fail and understand the progress. It's very hard to do that in a corporate environment when corporate dollars and people's jobs are at risk," Lodato said.

The desire for experimentation comes as broadcast news companies are under tremendous pressure to keep up with social media and other top content providers, he added.

The Knight Foundation is known for its investment in journalism and the arts in cities where brothers John S. and James L. Knight published newspapers.