The Poynter Institute for Media Studies

Poynter Institute

Logo of the Poynter Institute
Motto	Democracy needs journalism. Journalism needs Poynter.
Type	School of Journalism
Established	May 29, 1975
President	Tim Franklin
Location	St. Petersburg, Florida, United States
Website	poynter.org

The Poynter Institute for Media Studies is a non-profit school for journalism located in St. Petersburg, Florida. The school is the owner of The Tampa Bay Times newspaper.

The school began on May 29, 1975, when Nelson Poynter, the owner and chairman of the St. Petersburg Times (now the Tampa Bay Times) and Times Publishing Company, announced that he planned to start a small journalism school called the Modern Media Institute. (The name of the school was changed to the Poynter Institute almost a decade later.)

In 1977, Nelson Poynter willed ownership of the Times Publishing Company to the Institute so that after his death the school would become the owner of the St. Petersburg Times. Poynter died on June 15, 1978, at the age of 74. He had become ill in his office just a few hours after he helped break ground for the new St. Petersburg campus of the University of South Florida.

At that point the Institute began to grow into the larger school that exists today. The current building and campus officially opened in December 1985.

News University, or NewsU, is a project of the Poynter Institute, offering newsroom training to journalists and journalism students through its interactive e-learning program and links to other journalist training opportunities. The program is a partnership between the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Poynter Institute. Launched in April 2005, NewsU offers free self-directed courses, live "Webinars", and group online seminars.

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