The Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education (MIJE) is an American non-profit organization that trains journalists to become investigative journalists, editors, newspaper managers, and media entrepreneurs. The organization seeks to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion in newsrooms to diversify coverage of the news itself, creating a more complex and representative picture of the American news landscape.
Founded in 1977, MIJE is based in Oakland, California.
Founded in 1977, the Institute for Journalism Education (IJE) began as a volunteer project of nine working journalists, training journalists and journalism students at UC Berkeley.
Ten years after the Kerner Commission Report noted the lack of diversity in news as a factor in civil unrest, an American Society of Newspaper Editors report from 1978 showed that only 4% of all newsroom employees were people of color.
The ASNE Commission on Minorities set a goal of having ethnically diverse representation in newsrooms reach 17.5%, reflective of the population in 1978, by the year 2000.[1]
Co-founder Robert Maynard, in his memoirs and essays critical of the journalism industry such as his 1979 essay "Nonwhite America, the Unseen Environment," reflected that he felt the lack of diversity in journalism stemmed not only from a lack of hiring reporters with diverse backgrounds, but also from a lack of diversity in the management and ownership of media outlets.
According to Dori J. Maynard in her essay "Growing Up, Not Old" in Robert C. Maynard's book "Letters to my Children",[2] the nine original founders of the Institute for Journalism Education included Robert C. Maynard, Nancy Hicks Maynard, Walter Stovall, Earl Caldwell, Steve Montiel, Frank Sotomayor, Dorothy Butler Gilliam, Leroy F. Aarons and John Dotson. The program emerged from the UC Berkeley Summer Program for Minority Journalists, and became the Institute for Journalism Education; an organization promoting diversity in media staffing, content and business operations.
IJE was renamed https://www.cal-press.org/robert-c-maynard the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education (MIJE) in 1993 to posthumously honor co-founder Robert C. Maynard. Across its website and social media, the organization is now simply the Maynard Institute, and is currently led by co-executive directors Evelyn Hsu and Martin G. Reynolds.
After the 1970s, MIJE shifted its focus from entry-level reporters mid-career editors and managers and from newsroom basics to advanced skill development.
The Maynard 200 Fellowship provides advanced training and mentorship to diverse corps of mid-career journalists in order to promote their career growth into leadership roles.
The program aims to support journalism and media professionals of diverse backgrounds by providing training courses, resources, and mentorship by media professionals and experts.
As of 2024, the fellowship has trained over 200 fellows since 2018 who work in mainstream and minority media newsrooms.
According to the Institute's website its programs are open to all, though the Institute makes clear that its mission is to address the under-representation of people of color and other historically disadvantaged groups in media-related professions, and so makes special efforts to recruit individuals from these groups to its programs.
Oakland Voices is a six-month hyper-local program led by the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education that trains Oakland residents to tell the stories of their neighborhoods.
According to its website, Oakland Voices correspondents receive training in digital media storytelling — writing blogs and online pieces, taking photos, shooting video, and using social media to discuss issues that matter most in their communities. Correspondents also learn journalism ethics and editorial decision-making, interview basics, and story craft. They report on issues of life in Oakland, including community heroes, health and wealth disparities, and efforts to curb violence.
Oakland Voices emerged from a partnership between the Oakland Tribune and The Maynard Institute for Journalism Education in 2010. Oakland Voices participants work individually and in teams, creating content for OaklandVoices.us, which can also be published elsewhere.
According to the Maynard Institute website, "The Fault Lines Program is a series of in-person and virtual diversity training sessions for newsrooms. The program seeks to address personal bias "Fault Lines" of race, gender, sexual orientation, generation, geography and class as they apply to journalists, newsroom collaboration and coverage."
In an essay for Nieman Reports, Dori J. Maynard, daughter of Robert C. Maynard and later director of the institute that bears his name said of the Fault Lines Program:
"It was his belief, and we at the Maynard Institute have come to share that belief, that our nation is split along the five Fault Lines of race, class, gender, geography and generation. It is now time to not only admit that we are divided along those lines but to also begin to think about those differences in a more sophisticated manner."[3]
Funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Newsroom Transformation Program's goal is to help newsrooms become more equitable and inclusive in their reporting and workplace environments. The team of consultants work closely with Maynard Institute facilitators using the Fault Lines training methodology.
The organization is currently led by Co-Executive Directors Evelyn Hsu and Martin G. Reynolds.
Felecia Henderson is Director for Cultural Competency, she is the former Assistant Managing Editor at The Detroit News.
Odette Alcazaren-Keeley is the Director of the Maynard 200 Fellowship program. In 2022, Alcazaren-Keeley was awarded the Society of Professional Journalists Northern California Chapter Unsung Hero Award.[4] She is also the president and founding partner of Global MediaX, a strategic multicultural and international media consultancy group headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area.[5]
Momo Chang, co-director of Oakland Voices, is a freelance journalist[6] based in the San Francisco Bay Area and former staff writer at the Oakland Tribune. Chang has received journalism awards[7] from the Society of Professional Journalists for investigative reporting and the Asian American Journalists Association.
Rasheed Shabazz is co-director of Oakland voices. A multimedia journalist with experience in print, digital, and broadcast journalism, Shabazz his work has been published in the East Bay Express, East Bay Times, Indybay, Oakland Local, Oakland Post, San Francisco BayView, and The Final Call. He previously hosted and produced radio news at KALX and hosted The Black Hour podcast with the Peralta College's 9th Floor Radio.
Board Officers include journalists John X. Miller, Christian Hendricks, Bill Celis, Dickson Louie and Dorothy Butler Gilliam.
Current and past board Members include Sarah Allen, Kim Bardakian, Susan Leath, Kevin Merida, Debra Adams Simmons, Virgil L. Smith and April O. Turner.