Top Journalism Exec Eric Newton Promoted to New Post: Senior Adviser to the President at Knight Foundation

[Source: John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, March 9, 2011]

Miami (March 9, 2011) – Journalism program Vice President Eric Newton has been promoted to the new post of senior adviser to the president at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. In his new role he will help pursue strategic partnerships and serve as a magnet for new ideas across all foundation programs.

“As program director and vice president, Eric has invested more than a decade of his life to make Knight Foundation the leader in journalism innovation funding,” said Alberto Ibargüen, president and CEO of Knight Foundation. “He has been a force in journalism, a craft he loves and has made better. His advice and counsel will continue to impact Knight Foundation’s work in these digital times.”

Newton will be succeeded by Michael Maness, the foundation’s new vice president for journalism and media innovation. Maness was most recently head of innovation and design for Gannett. (see related release at kflinks.com/maness)

“Good foundations do more than make grants,” Newton said, “and I’m excited about helping Knight and journalism in new ways, through advising, strategic planning, writing, speaking, facilitating and partnering. I love to put great people together and help find new ideas that will make a difference.”

Under Newton’s leadership, Knight Foundation has invested more than $100 million in a multi-faceted media innovation initiative in the last five years alone. The foundation’s grantees address media innovation on many levels, including the development of new tools and techniques; national media policy; the transformation of nonprofit media; and journalism education in the digital age. Programs such as the Knight News Challenge have partnered with media innovators ranging from young entrepreneurs to experts such as Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web.

Newton has been vice president of the journalism program since 2006. He joined the foundation in 2001 as journalism program director. During the past ten years, he has developed some $300 million in grants to advance quality journalism, freedom of expression and media innovation worldwide.

Before Knight, Newton was founding managing editor of the Newseum, the world’s only major museum of journalism, in Washington, D.C. He began his journalism career as a newspaper editor in Northern California. At the Oakland Tribune, he was managing editor under owners Bob and Nancy Maynard, when the newspaper won 150 journalism awards, including a Pulitzer Prize.

Newton’s book projects include Crusaders, Scoundrels, Journalists; Capture the Moment and News in a New America. He co-founded the First Amendment Project, a nonprofit litigation project to advance freedom of information. He shared in a Peabody Award for "Mosaic: World News from the Middle East" and was a four-time Pulitzer Prize juror.

He has a bachelor's degree in journalism from San Francisco State University, where he was named a distinguished alumnus. He holds a master's degree in international studies from the University of Birmingham, England, where he was a Rotary International Scholar. He has taught journalism at all levels.

In 2008, Newton won the DeWitt Carter Reddick Award at the University of Texas at Austin, honoring professional service to the field of communications. In 2009, he won the Radio and Television News Directors Foundation's First Amendment Award for Knight Foundation's work to create Sunshine Week. In 2010, he spoke frequently about the future of news before groups ranging from the FCC to leading journalism educators.

He is a board member of IREX, a U.S.-based nonprofit devoted to education, independent media and strong communities worldwide, and is an advisory board member of the Center for International Media Assistance at the National Endowment for Democracy.