CU Student Journalists Get a $2.5 Million Boost From Famous News Family

BOULDER, CO -- It may be hard to earn a living as an investigative journalist, but members of a national journalism family dynasty are helping University of Colorado journalism students get experience they'll need before they graduate. Bill and Kathy Scripps announced a $2.5 million gift to CU's College of Media, Communication and Information to fund a hands-on, investigative news course, CU News Corps, into perpetuity. The Scripps family is well known in journalism and philanthropy throughout the US for establishing the E.W. Scripps media company, starting United Press International (UPI) wire service and franchising famous comic strips such as "Peanuts" and "Dilbert." They are also known for donating money to hospitals, open lands and libraries and sponsoring thousands of Scripps Spelling Bees at elementary schools throughout the nation.

But the fourth-generation Scripps are also the parents of Willie and Shelby, who both graduated from CMCI with degrees in communication.

The Scripps family initially donated $100,000 in 2012 to help the department purchase equipment.

“We were introduced to the concept of News Corps in its early stages and liked the idea of students gaining hands-on experience for reporting and news gathering,” said Bill Scripps, in a press release. “We started with a small gift, and increased that as we saw the success of the program.

“Bill and Kathy recognize how essential it is for students to gain hands-on experience in addition to a broad liberal arts education,” said CMCI Dean Lori Bergen, in a statement. “This gift establishes the Scripps CU News Corps Endowment, which supports the college’s mission to give students unique opportunities to develop and learn while creating a positive community impact.”

The CU Department of Journalism describes the NewsCorps course as

...an investigative news outlet, providing package-driven, long-form journalism to several of Colorado’s top professional media organizations, including the Denver Post and 9News Denver. Students in the course report on key Colorado issues, with previous topics including crime, immigration and political fact checking centered on the 2016 election.

“This endowment means that News Corps students will have the funding to pursue stories about some of the complex issues facing Colorado and the Rocky Mountain West using state-of-the-art reporting and storytelling techniques,” said Department of Journalism Chair Elizabeth Skewes in a statement. “And this year, News Corps has spearheaded a new partnership with Colorado Public Television to deliver an hour long, prime-time program of original content for viewers along the Front Range.”

“In this rapidly changing media environment, CMCI offers a great opportunity for students to keep pace,” said Bill Scripps. “We thought it would be appropriate to endow News Corps so that it will be around for perpetuity.”