The Poynter Institute

Overview

The Poynter Institute is a nonprofit school for journalism in St. Petersburg, founded in 1975 by newspaper publisher Nelson Poynter. Its waterfront campus sits alongside the University of South Florida's St. Petersburg campus. Thousands of journalists, teachers and members of the public have come to Poynter to learn what makes the best journalism work, whether the platform is print, broadcast or online.

A Unique Ownership Model

For 40 years, Nelson Poynter produced newspapers in St. Petersburg that reflected his belief that excellent journalism, published independently, could help a community prosper and a democracy flourish. He founded the Modern Media Institute in 1975 and willed that, upon his death in 1978, the new school would own controlling stock of the St. Petersburg Times Company. The arrangement protected his publications from outside chain ownership and created a school to help working journalists improve their skills for the benefit of their communities. The paper, now called the Tampa Bay Times, is owned by the Institute today.

About a year before he died, Nelson Poynter described his vision: "Modern Media Institute is going to be something big and important—it has to live modestly for quite a number of years, but its job is to help train the people who are going to help maintain the integrity, the stability, the progress of self-government."

From a Bank Building to the Bay

The institute began in a former bank building on Central Avenue, where seminars were held near an old vault. In 1985, under president Robert J. Haiman, it moved into its award-winning building across Third Street from the bay.

Leadership

Poynter's founding president was Donald K. Baldwin (1975–1983), followed by Robert J. Haiman (1983–1996), James M. Naughton (1996–2003), Karen Brown Dunlap (2003–2015) and Tim Franklin. Neil Brown, the sixth president, joined Poynter in September 2017 after serving as editor and vice president of the Tampa Bay Times.

Teaching Today

Poynter's faculty includes accomplished journalism professionals and academics, among them Pulitzer Prize recipients, Edward R. Murrow Award winners, on-air reporters, syndicated columnists and newsroom innovators. Once focused only on print and broadcast journalism, the curriculum now also covers online journalism, fact-checking, digital skills and newsroom leadership.