by Nisa Islam Muhammad
Staff Writer

(FinalCall.com) - Hampton University and the Scripps Howard Foundation have created their own answer to the continuing decline in the number of Black journalists in the industry with the Sept. 25 opening of the Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications on Hampton’s seaside campus in Virginia.

"The partnership between Hampton University and the Scripps Howard Foundation will positively revolutionize journalism and journalism education in this country," said Dr. William Harvey, president of the school.

"Our mission is to bring diversity into the newsrooms, along with training good, responsible and objective journalists. Hampton University’s values of honesty, integrity, respect for oneself, and respect for the dignity, feelings and worth of others are very much in concert with the values of the Scripps organization. Working together, we are going to make the Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications one of the top 10 in the country."

That ambitious goal would place the new school among the likes of New York’s Columbia University, Indiana University and the University of North Carolina’s Chapel Hill School of Journalism.

The inauguration of the Scripps Howard School, including the completion of a new 36,000-square-foot academic building, was celebrated September 23-27 with a series of special events and professional forums.

"From this time forward, the Scripps Howard Foundation and Hampton will be working together to educate future generations of media industry leaders," said Kenneth W. Lowe, president and chief executive officer of the E. W. Scripps Company, who lead the dedication ceremonies and delivered the first public lecture in the new school’s Robert P. Scripps Auditorium.

"Together, we share an awesome responsibility to help secure the future of our industry, which plays an increasingly important role in shaping the society in which we all live. We couldn’t have found a better partner than Hampton to take on this daunting task."

Hampton, known as the other HU as opposed to Howard University, is a Historically Black College and University (HBCU). It was founded in 1868, offers a comprehensive curriculum through more than 45 academic programs and has an annual enrollment of more than 6,000 students.

The creation of the Scripps Howard School was made possible through a $10 million commitment from the Scripps Howard Foundation–the philanthropic arm of the E. W. Scripps Company.

In addition to the new building, the foundation’s commitment includes support for the university’s new journalism curriculum and endowments for scholarships, visiting professionals, faculty development and programming.

The partnership between the foundation and Hampton was created to foster workplace diversity in the nation’s media by providing the industry with an ongoing source for qualified journalism and communications professionals.

Judith G. Clabes, president and chief executive officer of the foundation, said, "Our decision at Scripps Howard Foundation to enter into this partnership is firmly grounded in the foundation’s primary mission to promote excellence in journalism and the media industry.

"One of our industry’s most glaring weaknesses is that there are embarrassingly few people of color in high profile leadership positions. Working with Hampton University to establish this program, we believe, provides a practical, long-term solution to this persistent problem," she said.

Not only are there embarrassingly few people of color in high profile, leadership positions, there are embarrassingly few people of color in the industry, period. In April 2002, the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) yearly diversity survey showed another year of decline in the number of Black journalists in the industry.

In addition, opportunities for advancement are few and far between. The 2002 ASNE reports that 21 percent of the 2,879 Blacks working in newsrooms staffs were supervisors. The majority of Blacks, 51 percent, in newsrooms are reporters.

In April, the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) renewed its call on the newspaper industry to reverse the continuing decline in the number of Blacks in U.S. newspapers.

"We are deeply concerned by this pattern," said Condace Pressley, NABJ president and assistant program director at WSB radio in Atlanta, when the report came out. "For Blacks, things are still headed in the wrong direction."

The 36,000-square-foot Scripps building at Hampton has four classrooms, broadcast journalism facilities, including a television studio with state-of-the-art digital editing equipment and the campus radio station; a multi-media lecture hall/auditorium; and four computer labs for reporting, writing and editing for print, broadcast and online journalism and communications.

Dr. Harvey appointed Rosalynne Whitaker-Heck as the interim head until a nationwide search can find a new director. Ms. Whitaker-Heck has 20 years of experience in the industry, including work in broadcast production, telecommunications education, media relations and community relations.