Posted by chicagomedia.org on October 18, 2009 at 16:05:27:
Two former Chicago Tribune staffers named Encore fellows
Two former Chicago Tribune staff members have been named to the inaugural group of four Encore Fellowship for Journalists, a program to assist recently unemployed, seasoned reporters and editors, by Columbia Journalism Review.
With the newspaper industry downsizing, the Encore program will provide the opportunity to write for CJR and its Web site over a nine-month period beginning later this month. The fellows also get support and assistance aimed at preparing them to best make use of their experience in the coming years.
Joining former Tribune New York bureau chief and national correspondent Lisa Anderson and Don Terry are Terry McDermott, formerly of Chicago Tribune Co. parent Tribune Co.'s Los Angeles Times, and Jill Drew, an ex-associate editor at the Washington Post.
In announcing the Encore program, CJR cited estimates that around 16,000 journalists lost jobs last year as ad revenues declined. The publication plummeted. The Newspaper Association of America has said that newspaper print and online ad revenue was down $6.5 billion in the first half of this year, compared to the same period a year earlier, an extension of declines in 12 successive quarters.
"CJR is thrilled to be able to play a critical role not only in assisting these distinguished journalists, but our hope is that they will inspire downsized journalists across the county, who will benefit from the examples set by this inaugural class of fellows in developing their encore careers," Victor Navasky, CJR's chairman, said in a statement.
CJR's partners on the project are the Florida's Poynter Institute, which will provide educational opportunities, and California's Civic Ventures think tank, which developed the Encore concept and created a pilot program that eased veteran Silicon Valley execs into the non-profit sector.
Posted at 01:48:33 PM by Phil Rosenthal, Chicago Tribune