Journalists Awarded Cabot Prize for Superb Coverage of Latin America and Caribbean

International Conference Considers Paths to Global Press Freedom

New Tow Center Director Helps Journalism Students Prepare for Media’s Digital Future

Columbia, long renowned for its journalism education, is preparing the next generation of journalists for the challenges of reporting in an increasingly connected world.

On Oct. 19, the University launched the new Tow Center for Digital Journalism, which will simultaneously teach digital skills and become a research and development center for the profession.

Veteran online journalist Emily Bell, the first director of the Tow Center, is looking ahead to how a new generation of instant communication technologies will continue to change the way journalists inform and interact with their readers. The former editor-in-chief of Guardian.co.uk, Bell helped turn the website into one of the most successful and widely read news portals in the world. She says the University’s new center for digital journalism will be a “place where journalists and technologists meet and talk, and where we can experiment with ideas and facilitate a conversation about how this changing world is impacting journalism and how journalism will develop.”

On Oct. 28, the Cabot Awards ceremony in Low Library honored outstanding coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean. And on Nov. 4, President Lee C. Bollinger hosted an international conference on global press freedom whose speakers included journalism and press leaders from around the world.

In his opening remarks at the conference, which was titled “A Free Press for a Global Society,” Bollinger explained that a leading consequence of globalization is the need for democratic societies to be informed about developments in foreign nations.