ATLANTA — Morehouse College on Thursday announced it was partnering with the Ida B. Wells Society to enhance the school's investigative reporting development and educational offerings.
According to a release, the partnership will facilitate an on-campus presence with IBWS members serving as advisers and mentors "to prepare Morehouse students for ethical careers in journalism through skills building in investigative and social justice reporting."
The release said the Society would also "facilitate greater access to internships, scholarships, graduate school placements, and employment opportunities" for Morehouse students.
The Society was previously based out of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and will now maintain a permanent base at Morehouse. Its founders include "1619 Project" creator, New York Times Pulitzer Prize winner Nikole Hannah-Jones, investigative journalist, and AP executive Ron Nixon.
A launch for the Society's Morehouse operations is scheduled for Feb. 16, with Hannah-Jones and Nixon among those expected to attend.
“I am very excited to announce that Morehouse College will be the new home of the Ida B. Wells Society,” Hannah-Jones said in a statement. “This partnership helps our young organization settle more deeply into our mission, which is to increase the number of investigative reporters of color. Being located on the campus of a historically Black college located in Atlanta in proximity to other HBCUs and coming to Morehouse just as it gets its journalism major off the ground, provides a tremendous opportunity for us to increase our impact on the field and society.”
Ron Thomas, the chair of the Morehouse Journalism in Sports, Culture and Social Justice department said that the program "intentionally tries to fill the gaps in media that rarely are populated by Black reporters and editors."
"Investigative reporting is one of those areas in which Black faces are seldom seen, and there is no organization I would rather see us partner with than the Ida B. Wells Society as they attempt to solve that problem by training our own students, those from other colleges, and professional reporters trying to add to their skill set," Thomas added. "IBWS is a natural fit for the emphasis that Morehouse College and our journalism program have placed on social justice. So often, keen investigative skills are needed to unearth the truth when social justice issues are explored."