Turning subject experts into journalists: 9 good questions with Robert Steiner
April 24/2014
The American Press Institute – A fellowship program at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs recruits subject-matter experts – from scientists and lawyers to economists and cyber-experts – and over eight months trains them to become beat reporters by mentoring their work for a growing network of newspaper partners including The Dallas Morning News, The Globe and Mail and The Toronto Star.
This week, the program graduated its second cohort. In that time, its partners have published 280 enterprise features and exclusive investigations. Alumni are now stringing on their beats for newspapers in the US, Europe and Canada.
We talked to fellowships director Robert Steiner about how this model is different than other journalism school programs, who’s applying, and his thoughts two years in.