FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Amanda Elliott, Maynard Institute
(510) 891-9202; aelliott@maynardije.org
www.maynardije.org
Media Academy seeks to change face of newspaper industry management
OAKLAND, Calif. – The Maynard Institute for Journalism Education has named longtime journalist and industry educator Evelyn Hsu director of the Media Academy, a new training and development program for first-time minority newspaper managers. The program aims to increase retention of supervisors of color and increase diversity in newspaper management.
“Evelyn’s depth of knowledge and experience as a reporter, editor and educator makes her uniquely qualified to lead the Media Academy,” said Dori J. Maynard, president of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education. “Evelyn knows what it takes to be a good supervisor, and we are excited that she will apply her 25 years of experience in the business to help newspapers do a better job developing effective leaders and managers of color in the newsroom.”
Each year, the Media Academy will select 48 participants. The program will target managers in newspapers’ business and editorial departments, with emphasis on the business side. While the academy will focus on recruiting people of color, white managers are encouraged to apply.
Hsu is a past national president of the Asian American Journalists Association. She helped organize the first UNITY conference in 1994, and directed UNITY’s mentorship program in 1999 and 2000. Most recently, Hsu was a member of the reporting, writing and editing faculty of the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla. While there, she taught in Poynter’s management and writing seminars for professionals and directed the institute’s high school journalism programs. Prior to Poynter, Hsu was an associate director of the American Press Institute in Reston, Va. At API, Hsu directed management and writing programs as well as programs for business, feature, metro and news editors.
A graduate of Maynard’s Summer Program for Minority Journalists, Hsu was a city hall reporter at the San Francisco Chronicle and a metropolitan reporter at the Washington Post, covering local politics and government.
“All my work, in the newsroom, at API and at Poynter, has prepared me for this great opportunity,” Hsu said. “It’s particularly rewarding to return to the Maynard Institute, which gave me my start.”
The Media Academy will work in concert with sponsoring newspapers to draft development plans for participants. The sponsoring newspapers will allow participants to attend two nine-day classroom training sessions, the first to be held at the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. Classroom training will be augmented by on-the-job activities, e-learning and mentors. In addition to teaching the nuts and bolts of management skills and managing in a multicultural environment, the curriculum will address the fundamentals of content, marketing, finance and newspaper production.
The creation of the Media Academy was announced in April during the Newspaper Association of America’s Annual Convention in Washington, D.C. The Academy was endorsed by the NAA Board of Directors. Additional information about the Media Academy can be found online at www.maynardije.org, or by contacting Amanda Elliott at (510) 891-9202.
The Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education (MIJE) is the oldest organization dedicated to training journalists of color and helping the news media reflect the nation’s diversity in staffing, content and business operations. MIJE offers nationally acclaimed management training programs and Reality Checks, a Web-based content audit software program. Incorporated in 1977 as the Institute for Journalism Education, MIJE was renamed in 1993 to honor its first chairman, the late Robert C. Maynard, former owner and publisher of the Oakland Tribune.
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