The Carnegie-Knight News21 program at Arizona State University has conducted an investigative report on hate crimes in the United States. The news program is a national initiative that brings together exceptional journalism students from multiple universities to report on major national stories. News21 was established by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to demonstrate that top journalism students can produce groundbreaking reporting on major national topics and present their findings in innovative ways.
The 2018 investigation analyzed the federal National Crime Victimization Survey and found more than 2.4 million cases of hate crimes from 2012 to 2016. Student reporters found college recruiters who were White nationalists and documented continuing attacks on a number of racial and ethnic groups. The results of their investigation can been seen on the website Hate in America.
Jacquee Petchel, News21 executive editor and a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist, stated “this project takes a deep look into intolerance, racism and hate crimes in the United States. Our fellows were fair and aggressive in reaching out to people to get a range of voices for this project. They were immersed in cultures that would be uncomfortable for even the very best professional reporters. They handled each interview with a high degree of skill and professionalism.”
The 2018 News21 team included students from Arizona State University, DePauw University, Dublin City University, Elon University, George Washington University, Indiana University, Kent State University, Louisiana State University, Morgan State University, St. Bonaventure University, Syracuse University, University of British Columbia, University of Colorado Boulder, University of Iowa, University of Mississippi, University of North Texas, University of Oklahoma, University of Tennessee, and University of Texas at Austin.
