New e-book: 'Traveling Dangerously in America'

 

An investigative series on the dangers of traveling in America is now available in e-book form. The series, “Breakdown: Traveling Dangerously in America,” was produced by Carnegie-Knight News21 fellows working at ASU's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.  Photo by: stock.xchng photo 

August 12, 2011 - An investigative series on the dangers of traveling in America is now available in e-book form.

The series, “Breakdown: Traveling Dangerously in America,” was produced by Carnegie-Knight News21 fellows working at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.

The students from 11 universities produced dozens of stories, graphics, photos and videos that detail the shortcomings of the government safety system designed to protect people who travel by air, boat, rail or car.

The project was reported in collaboration with the Washington-based Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit investigative journalism organization, and major portions were published by The Washington Post and msnbc.com.

Eleven student journalists traveled to nine states, the District of Columbia, Mexico and Canada, talked to hundreds of officials, industry leaders, safety experts and victims and analyzed thousands of pages of documents, reports and accident and investigation data from the National Transportation Safety Board and federal regulatory agencies. Their project won several awards, including the 2011 Investigative Reporters and Editors student national computer-assisted reporting contest.

The e-book version of the project, published in e-pub and Amazon format, is optimized for long-form reading and viewing on a tablet or e-reader device, said Cronkite Associate Dean Kristin Gilger, who led the News21 project. Readers can annotate and bookmark the publication for their convenience and reference.

Gilger said the e-publication would enable the project to reach and benefit a wider audience.

“This is the first time we’ve published student-produced material in e-book format, but I’m sure it won’t be the last,” Gilger said. “Part of what we do at the Cronkite School, and part of what we teach students, is to continually think about new ways to reach audiences with quality journalism.”

The e-publication is downloadable through the Amazon Kindle store and also via a link on the News21 national website. It is also expected to be available soon via the iTunes Bookstore on the iPad or iPhone.

News21 is a program of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to encourage excellence and innovation in the teaching of college journalism. The program is headquartered at the Cronkite School. Participating schools include ASU, Columbia University, Harvard University, Northwestern University, Syracuse University, University of California at Berkeley, University of Maryland, University of Missouri at Columbia, University of Maryland, University of Nebraska at Lincoln, University of Southern California and University of Texas at Austin.