Beyond Education: Thought Leadership at CJS
The Columbia School of Journalism houses institutes and centers that provide thought leadership on the future of journalism education, as well as on the most pressing challenges faced by journalists today.
These centers not only provide intellectual homes to topics as diverse as digital journalism, media innovation, trauma and human rights — they also provide students with transformative educational experiences. This includes competitive postgraduate fellowships, cutting-edge research opportunities, seminar series and interdisciplinary partnerships across the university.
CJS Centers and Institutes
The Tow Center, established in 2010, explores how the development of technology is changing journalism, its practice and its consumption — particularly as consumers of news seek ways to judge the reliability, standards and credibility of information.
Columbia Journalism Review's mission is to be the intellectual leader in the rapidly changing world of journalism. Since the founding of its magazine in 1961, CJR has aimed to support and improve American journalism by monitoring the press, tracking the evolution of journalism and promoting standards of journalistic excellence.
The Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, directed by journalist Bruce Shapiro, works to advance effective, ethical and evidence-informed reporting on the impact of violence. Emphasizing both coverage of victims and the impact of such assignments on journalists, the Center is dedicated to improving media coverage of trauma, conflict and tragedy.
The Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism prepares students for distinguished careers in investigative reporting by providing them the skills and the opportunities they need in order to succeed. Since its founding in 2006, the program has turned out top-caliber graduates doing watchdog reporting for leading news organizations.
Established in 2019, the Newmark Center equips journalists with tools to address the ethical and security challenges of the modern newsroom. The center supports research on journalistic practices and strengthens the school’s ethics curriculum and instruction in topics such as digital and physical security, algorithmic bias, image manipulation and the protection of sources in a high-surveillance era.
The Brown Institute for Media Innovation is a collaboration between CJS and Stanford University’s School of Engineering. Through Brown’s scholarships, grants and fellowships, they conduct radical experimentation with the potential to define new priorities and practices for both engineering and journalism.
The Ira A. Lipman Center for Journalism and Civil and Human Rights was founded in 2017 to recognize and support the ways we research and report race, equity, and civil and human rights in the United States and globally. The center also oversees a fellowship program for journalistic work in these areas.
The Li Center, directed by Patti Cadby Birch Assistant Professor of Journalism Azmat Khan, brings together leaders in global reporting and supports a range of activities and opportunities benefiting students, alumni of the J-School and the public. The center provides fellowships for recent graduates to report abroad, scholarships for international students, and new curricular activities that bring a global perspective to the school and the professional community.
The George Delacorte Center for Magazine Journalism is devoted to thinking through the changing role of magazines in both journalism and American life. It hosts the Delacorte Lecture series, a year-long series featuring leading practitioners from the world of magazines.