With an extensive list of accomplishments and an impressive resume, Dr. Battinto L. Batts Jr. is bringing his expertise as a veteran journalist to minority students attending the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Communication in Downtown Los Angeles. The ASU California Center in Los Angeles is designed to meet the needs of students and lifelong learners.
Although the curriculum originates from Arizona State University (ASU), the flagship California locations feature top-ranked undergraduate and graduate degree programs, resulting in nearly 65,000 alumni in California as leaders and entrepreneurs spanning hundreds of industries that include business, fashion and film, journalism, sustainability, engineering, and law.
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Batts has worked as a newspaper crime reporter, lecturer, philanthropist, strategic communications professional, higher-education administrator, and non-profit executive. With over 15 years of experience in reporting and editing at local newspapers in Virginia and Tampa Bay, Batts worked as the director of journalism strategies at the Scripps Howard Foundation, as assistant dean for academic affairs at the Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications at Hampton University, and as director of The William R. Harvey Leadership Institute.
In 2018, the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism was founded at Cronkite as part of a $6 million investment by the Scripps Howard Foundation under Batts’ direction. When asked about his journey from different corners of the country, Batts credits the time he spent in Cincinnati as an instrumental shift in his career, “It was really a life changing and career changing experience to go from where I was in Virginia to Cincinnati and to learn more about higher education in a broad scope while interacting with the deans, professors, and directors.”
Batts describes the most fulfilling part of his career as sharing knowledge with students and learning from students as well.
“Watching students go on to great success in their careers and staying connected with them, that is rewarding to know you played a role in their growth and development.” Working to connect students with vital resources inside and outside the classroom, Batts also strives to secure the funding that’s needed to advance journalism and mass communication.
“I also developed a true understanding of fundraising and how those opportunities feed ideas for devoting the resources to students and how we track the progress and success of these programs. Understanding the relationship between the donor and the university, how it should be built on trust, accountability, and performance.”
As society continues to increase its media intake, Batts believes that journalism is not dead. Although new styles of journalism have emerged since the birth of social media, barriers are dissolving in the industry and have resulted in positive trends in Black representation and opportunities to get involved in the media ecosystem.
“I think media and journalism are much more democratized now and easier for participation for those who inspire to start a media enterprise, they can launch a website, or create a social media presence,” he noted.
“I think it’s hard for any one media outlet to effectively cover the complexities of a community like Los Angeles, which has a lot of diversity and voices [that] are represented. Great work is being done and there is more work to be done,” said Batts.
“Continuously building relationships with communities we seek to cover and listen to be involved. Journalists shouldn’t helicopter into communities and only cover stories when its ‘big news’ or when something is going wrong.”
Batts encourages young journalists and mass communication majors to get involved and become part of the communities they wish to cover. ASU in California’s Cronkite School offers an experiential semester-long reporting experience in news or sports journalism in Los Angeles — the second-largest media market in the U.S. Student reporters work out of the Cronkite News Bureau in the historic Herald Examiner Building.
Learn more at https://cronkite.asu.edu/
