An Inside Look to the One-of-a-Kind Experience at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications at ASU

Assistant Dean Mark J. Lodato

By: Cindy G. Castillo

August 25, 2008 marks a commemorative date for Downtown Phoenix; this was the date of the ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication’s first school day in its new building in Downtown Phoenix.

“We are all about creating a journalism and mass communications community and by being Downtown, we’ve been able to accomplish that not just for ourselves or for our students, but for the industry as well,” Mark J. Lodato, Assistant Dean to the Cronkite School explains.

For many years, the Cronkite School facilities were located in Tempe, AZ at the Stauffer Communication Arts building. Built in 1973 to honor former owner and publisher of the Arizona Republic and Phoenix Gazette newspapers, the building housed the Cronkite School for many years, but the facilities were still missing something.

The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the ASU Downtown Campus

“[Stauffer Hall] was great, it was new and everything else, but the reality is that both the goals of the school, the need for facilities really made it an antiquate situation for what we needed to be able to give our students the very best opportunities,” Lodato said.

Thus, the design for a brand-new Cronkite building was unveiled in Feb. 21, 2007. A $71 million dollar facility consisting of 2 TV Studios, thirty-four edit bays, sixteen computer labs and newsrooms, and fourteen media partnerships, all of which makes for unlimited opportunities for prospective students.

“From a recruitment standpoint just bringing students and showing them around is a great way to say, ‘imagine yourself here and all of the things you can be doing whether it is television or digital reporting. We have a facility that can handle all of that and explore new areas that maybe we hadn’t thought of.”

Among the unlimited opportunities that can be found at the Cronkite School, students can take advantage of its convenient location among the nation’s 13^th largest broadcast market making it a target for potential internships as well as headline-worthy news. Arizona is a unique place where environmental, border, economic, and tourism issues can be found for future headline stories.

“We’re going to give a student an unparalleled experience when it comes to real world journalism…that same kind of experience that you would get once you graduate and we’ll give you the tools that you need to succeed,” Lodato remarked.

Being involved in the recruiting process at the Cronkite School, Lodato believes that there is something about being in a big city and a large market that creates these opportunities for students. The synergy of being downtown has created a unique interaction with local media and news outlets such as Fox Sports Arizona, The Arizona Republic, The Phoenix Suns, and other companies that collaborate with the Cronkite school by using its facilities or by Journalism related events that students can take part in.

Set for Cronkite NewsWatch, the award-winning 30-minute nightly newscast produced by Cronkite students

“It is important to us to make sure that there are opportunities for those students to grow from the moment they enter the building so it is important to us that you are a Cronkite student from day one.”

Such an example of a partnership that has created opportunities for current students is the Cronkite’s collaboration with Fox Sports Arizona, where students are given the opportunity to produce content for the network.

“I think we’ve really done a good job in sort of a hub of journalism and mass communication.”

The state-of-the-art new premises for the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications takes advantage on its closure to major  metropolitan news operations in newspaper, TV, radio, and online – more than any journalism school in the country – thus allowing for exceptional opportunities for all aspiring journalists.