The Reuters Foundation is giving £1.75m over five years to establish an Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University, which aims to become one of the most authoritative sources of reliable analysis of journalism worldwide.
The chair of the Reuters Institute steering committee, Tim Gardam, principal of St Anne's College and former Channel 4 and BBC executive, said the centre will "treat the media with the depth of seriousness it deserves." Mr Gardam added that an arena where the worlds of media and academia can come together will "give current journalists, as well as academics working in this field, the time and space to reflect on the most pressing public policy issues connecting journalism, politics and our contemporary society." But far from being a stuffy think tank with its head buried in academia, the Institute aims to break down the "barriers of incomprehension and distrust" between journalism and the academic world. Britain already has legions of journalism and media courses, but the new Institute will be less about training and more about engaging with every aspect of the news media through publications and debates, able to contribute to up-to-the-minute arguments, charting the technological and market changes which influence news, and to identify long-term trends. Challenging both worlds' traditional shrug of disinterest about the other, will be the new Institute's first challenge. But the increasingly pace of change in the news media often breeds a' react first and think after' attitude that cutting-edge research, analysis and trend-forecasting from Oxford could help address. In the US, the Poynter Institute already provides such a world-renowned forum. The key for Oxford may be in the two top appointments: An established academic is to be appointed as director of the institute, with a recognised journalist being appointed as a director of journalism. Get the right dynamism at the top and the UK could be home to one of the most exciting centres of journalism excellence in the world.
