Field Notes: The Media School Travel Blog

When I told my mom I was going to the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida, for spring break, she did not respond with as much enthusiasm as I had hoped.

“Oh,” she said. “What is that? What exactly are you doing there?”

These are the questions everyone asks when I tell them about my spring break plans. Questions that I really couldn’t answer. For the most part, all I knew was that the Poynter Institute is a nonprofit journalism training center and that Ernie Pyle Scholars go there every spring break.

“Training,” I said. “Yeah, I think we’re going to be doing workshops. I am not exactly sure why we go all the way to Florida to do some workshops, but we are.”

My mom’s lack of knowledge made me realize how much I lacked too. So I decided to find out what the Poynter Institute is and why we travel 995 miles for workshops.

Yes, we are doing workshops. These workshops have been created by faculty at the Poynter Institute and are constantly adapting to keep up with the ever-changing media landscape. They cover a variety of topics, including audience engagement and column writing.

But I wondered what made the Poynter Institute so special that warranted us traveling so far?

I discovered that the Poynter Institute is one of the best journalism training institutions in the country, and I learned about Nelson Poynter.

Along with being the namesake of the building, Nelson was an editor and producer of news at the St. Petersburg Times, now the Tampa Bay Times. He’s also an IU alumnus. Nelson attended IU and graduated in 1924, and his classmates include Ernie Pyle and Herman B Wells.

After learning this, connections started forming in my brain.

Nelson Poynter. Ernie Pyle. IU. Journalism school. Journalism training center.

Got it.

Not only do Media School students travel to the Poynter Institute each spring break, but one Media School student entering his or her senior year is the recipient of the Poynter Scholarship each year, which provides the student with an internship at the Tampa Bay Times.

The university also has the Poynter Center for the Study of Ethics and Americans Institutions. Nelson provided funding for this research after the Watergate Scandal, and then gave a second gift that funded the center’s creation.

After researching and finding all this information about Nelson, I felt a sense of Hoosier pride. After one day of training at the Poynter Institute, I understand what makes this place so special.

Many have graduated from IU and become influential people in the journalism world, but I think Nelson may be the most influential alumnus.

His legacy lives in Bloomington with the scholarship, research center and the Ernie Pyle Scholars. It lives in St. Petersburg with the Tampa Bay Times and the Poynter Institute. But it also lives with every journalist who has been affiliated with the Poynter Institute.

Now that includes me too.