Scripps and Arizona State join forces to create innovative career initiative

Scripps Cronkite Journalism Career Program creates opportunities for graduates at KERO-TV in Bakersfield, Calif.

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Nov 13, 2012, 11:41 ET

CINCINNATI, Nov. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- With the objective of strengthening the content it delivers in one of its new markets, The E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE: SSP) is embarking on a ground-breaking program with Arizona State University that will place top-tier journalism students in a Scripps newsroom.

Scripps and ASU have collaborated to form the Scripps Cronkite Journalism Career Program as a pipeline that connects one of the country's top broadcast journalism education centers to entry-level positions with one of the country's best broadcast journalism companies.

Specifics of the program include:

Candidates apply for up to four full-time positions at KERO in Bakersfield, Calif.
Positions to be filled include producer, digital producer and multi-media journalist (MMJ)
At the end of six months, the ASU grad could accept a permanent position at KERO or apply for a different open position at another Scripps station
The six-month rotation extends from January-June and then starts over with new employees/grads from July-December

ASU is home to the nationally recognized Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. It is a leading journalism school singled out as an innovator in journalism education. The relationship between ASU and Scripps is natural because the Cronkite School "teaches students how to apply traditional journalism fundamentals across digital, broadcast, text and interactive media platforms," while Scripps is a multimedia company with a rich journalism tradition that is committed like no one else in the industry to informing its audiences and strengthening its advertisers – whether on paper, on air, online or on the go.

"Scripps intends to harness the creative energy, skills and enthusiasm of recent ASU grads and channel it into shaping tomorrow's storytellers and MMJs," said Brian Lawlor, senior vice president of the Scripps television division. "We firmly believe the Scripps Cronkite Journalism Career Program will attract serious consideration from top-of-their-class graduates who are hungry for that first job. We know the high caliber of journalists that ASU produces and we are eager to welcome our first Sun Devil graduates to see what they can do for us at KERO."

"We're thrilled with this new collaboration with Scripps, one of the nation's leading news companies, and extremely thankful to Brian Lawlor and the innovative leaders at Scripps for making this a reality," said Cronkite Dean Christopher Callahan. "This will be a powerful career development opportunity for some of our terrific new graduates while providing to Scripps young digital journalists who can help shape the future of our business."

About Scripps

Scripps (www.scripps.com) is a leading media enterprise driven to develop and expand its digital strategies including social gaming, while embracing its rich history in delivering quality journalism through television stations, newspapers and Scripps Howard News Service. Creative, talented and energetic employees are leading the way at 19 television stations in major cities such as Denver, San Diego, Detroit, Phoenix, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Tampa. The Scripps digital group is growing and gaining momentum with new product offerings, enhancements, and technology that gives customers more options than ever before to find the information and entertainment they crave.

SOURCE The E.W. Scripps Company