NBCUniversal News Group chairman Cesar Conde announced the Fifty Percent Challenge Initiative last July, an aggressive action plan to turn the NBCU News Group employee base to be 50 percent women and 50 percent people of color. Now, the company is launching NBCU Academy. (TVNewser)
In a push to bring journalism education to underrepresented groups, NBCUniversal is partnering with 17 historically Black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions and colleges with significant Latino, Asian, Black, Indigenous and tribal populations with the initiative. (NBC News)
The program includes on-campus and online training, hands-on instruction from NBCU journalists, equipment and funding for accredited journalism programs. (Deadline)
NBCU will invest a total of $6.5 million in the effort, including scholarships worth $3.5 million over the next two years, and provide equipment and work with professors to develop seminar courses. (Variety)