At a time when news consumption habits are rapidly changing and the craft of journalism is under increased scrutiny, it is critical that public media station managers who oversee news organizations have the support and training they need to uphold public media journalism’s highest editorial standards.

This six-month fellowship will focus on station managers’ ability to manage every part of their news organization as they guide their stations through a period of rapid change in the media landscape.

This executive program will accept a total of 50 public media station managers who will be split into two cohorts of 25: one will kick off in April 2025, and another will convene starting January 2026. Both cohorts will begin their individual training with week-long, in-person sessions, followed by 24 weeks of cohort-based and one-on-one coaching, as well as virtual training. 

The program is designed to be effective across experience levels and station types, including first-time leaders, experienced leaders, those new to public media and managers leading newsrooms at stations licensed to universities and state governments.

Fellows will get the opportunity to learn from and support one another, creating bonds that last beyond the life of the program, and learn the ethics and leadership skills that are the hallmarks of Poynter training. 

They will focus on creating an executive leadership action plan drawn from their strategy and vision for their newsroom and informed by a range of tools, frameworks and coaching that begins during the in-person week at Poynter. 

Training will include:

• A five-day, in-person week at Poynter in St. Petersburg, Florida, that will kick off the fellowship and deepen training and relationships. 
• Twelve virtual sessions of 90 minutes each. Every other week following the kick-off at Poynter, Fellows will attend live executive virtual training sessions that will include instructional time and small-group work.
• Fourteen one-hour executive coaching calls via phone or video conferencing.
• A virtual closing session in which program leaders will wrap up the teaching themes of the program and reinforce ways to keep applying and building on what they’ve learned. Fellows will share lessons learned and commitments from their leadership action plans.
• A private Slack workspace 

Participation in this program is free — tuition is covered by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Applicants who weren’t selected for the first cohort can apply again for the second one.

Depending on Fellows’ needs, the planned training could include:

• Developing high-performing leadership teams 
• Effective resource management for innovation 
• Ethical leadership and managing conflicts of interest
• Managing boards and license holders
• Change management and risk tolerance
• Community-centered partnerships and collaboration
• Strategies for audience and revenue growth 
• Newsroom finances and budgets

Applications for the first cohort close Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. Selected participants will be notified in January 2025 and convene in St. Petersburg for five days in 2025: April 28 through May 2.

Applications for the second cohort are scheduled to launch in the summer of 2025, with participants notified in the fall and convening at Poynter in January of 2026.

Questions?

If you need assistance, email us at info@poynter.org.