Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ)

The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism is dedicated to exploring the future of journalism worldwide through debate, engagement, and research.

We believe in the value of independent journalism, the power of news, and the importance of an informed public. We are committed to the timeless journalistic aspiration of seeking truth and reporting it, as well as the ongoing work of remaking the profession and the organisations that enable it. Our focus is on journalism, the media industry, and the public that they serve.

By connecting practice and research, by facilitating global exchange, and by driving conversations around the future of news, we work to ensure that journalists, editors, and media executives face the opportunities and challenges of a changing media environment from a position of strength. Our goal is to help them build better and more sustainable journalism for tomorrow.

Our activities

The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism hosts journalists from all over the world, connects them with professional peers and leading academics from a wide range of different fields, and facilitates the exchange of ideas by taking part in public debates, by hosting conversations, and by publishing new and interesting work.

Activities include—

Our Journalist Fellowship Programme, which brings high calibre mid-career practising journalists to Oxford and offers them a period of reflection and an opportunity to carry out a piece of relevant in-depth research, away from the pressure of tight deadlines.

Our Leadership Programmes, which gather editors, executives, and journalists in leadership roles in small, intimate, off-the-record settings to engage with each other, exchange best practices and lessons learned, and benefit from current research relevant to the challenges they face.

Our Research Programmes, which provide timely, accessible, and evidence-based independent analysis of issues facing journalism and news media around the world, and include our own series of RISJ publications, as well as more specialised academic articles and book-length treatments of important topics.

The Institute and its history

The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism is part of the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford, and affiliated with Green Templeton College.

Our core funding comes from the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Our work is also supported by a wide range of other funders including academic funding bodies, foundations, non-profits, and industry partners.

The Journalist Fellowship Programme has been at Oxford since 1983. The Institute itself was founded in 2006.

Governance

The Reuters Institute’s constitution commits us to providing an independent forum for exchanges between practitioners and analysts of journalism, and all those affected by it, and to the pursuit of impartial scholarship of the highest standard.

We are an integral part of the University of Oxford and accountable to the Department of Politics and International Relations’ General Purposes Committee and Head of the Department as well as to our Steering Committee, which has general oversight of our activities.

Our Advisory Board provides more general input and suggestions for our work. It consists of high profile international figures from news organisations, technology companies, media policymaking and the academy.