Academic Centers

Center for Social Media

CSM showcases ways to use media as creative tools for public knowledge and action. It focuses on social documentary films and on the public media environment that support civil society and democracy. In addition to hosting film festivals, conferences and working groups, it maintains a Web site that serves as a clearinghouse of resources for filmmakers, activists and scholars.

Investigative Reporting Workshop

The Investigative Reporting Workshop undertakes significant, original, national and international investigative reporting projects for multimedia publication or broadcast in collaboration with others, and will serve as a laboratory “incubator” to develop new economic models and techniques for conducting and delivering investigative journalism. There is no other university research center in the world examining new models for enabling and disseminating investigative reporting.

J-Lab: Institute for Interactive Journalism

J-Lab helps journalists and citizens use digital technologies to develop new ways of participating in public life. J-Lab's programs include J-Learning and the Knight Citizen News Network, both of which are Web-based, comprehensive community journalism instruction programs; the McCormick New Media Women Entrepreneurs Project, which provides seed funding and support for original news ideas proposed by women; and New Voices, which provides start-up funding and instruction for pioneering community news ventures in the United States. J-Lab also administers the Knight-Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism, one of the profession's most prestigious honors.

Center for Environmental Filmmaking

CEF, led by professor Chris Palmer, was founded on the belief that environmental and wildlife films are vitally important educational and political tools in the struggle to protect the environment. The Center’s mission is to train filmmakers to create films and new media that are effective at producing conservation and that are highly entertaining, ethically sound and educationally powerful.

Foreign Correspondence Network

You want to work overseas. Photojournalist, documentary filmmaker, artist-in-residence and Emmy winner Bill Gentile--who has covered conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Nicaragua--will connect you with SOC alumni working in more than 30 countries. Learn more about the Foreign Correspondence Network.