About The Beam
The Beam investigates how powerful institutions shape everyday life—from classrooms to industries to government.
Our professional journalists and student apprentices team with external partners to tell stories no single organization could produce on its own. Going beyond traditional reporting, we are building AI-assisted tools that bring audiences closer to newsmakers. These tools allow users to ask their own questions, search public information, and engage directly with issues affecting their families and communities.
Why The Beam Exists
The Beam is headquartered in Arizona, one of the fastest-growing states in the U.S. Yet many of the institutions shaping life here operate with limited and uneven public scrutiny. Public education is a clear example. For decades, Arizona’s public schools have faced persistent challenges—including long-standing funding pressures, staffing shortages, and wide disparities between districts and communities. These issues affect students, families, businesses, and educators statewide and demand sustained, independent reporting.
At the same time, legacy media organizations have faced significant cuts in recent years, leaving many communities without enough journalists to ask hard questions. The Beam brings together resources from private philanthropy, one of the largest public universities in the U.S. by enrollment, and nonprofit partners to create a new model that serves communities while educating the next generation of journalists.
Our Home at ASU
The Beam is housed within the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. This structure allows professional journalists to work alongside paid student apprentices in a journalism teaching-hospital model—producing real-world investigations while training the next generation of accountability reporters.
The Beam is supported by a multi-year grant from the Scripps Howard Foundation, which funds the expansion of the Howard Center and the launch of The Beam. The Foundation does not influence editorial decisions. Funding from private philanthropy also means we are not beholden to pressures from Wall Street, strengthening our independence.
The Beam also aims to build a pipeline of future journalists by expanding the Cronkite School’s proven teaching-hospital model. Our purpose as a news organization is to connect with communities, understand their needs, and respond with journalism that delivers public value. Students participate in that process as apprentices, or through internships and fellowships.
Statewide Focus at Launch, National and Global Ambitions
At launch, The Beam is opening an Arizona-focused newsroom already has built a powerful statewide network, including through partnerships with the Arizona Media Association and the Arizona Local News Foundation. We are reporting stories and developing tools to help Arizonans better understand and engage with the state’s most pressing issues.
The Beam is also building a Washington, D.C., team of journalists that will begin operations in summer 2026. We believe our model is portable. In D.C., professional journalists will again work alongside interns and fellows serving as apprentices to report national stories that matter. To support our D.C. newsroom and its audiences, we are developing new AI-driven tools that will allow them to better understand, on a personal level, the impact from decisions made by national newsmakers.
What’s next? We are already seriously exploring expansion into global markets. The Beam can support local, national, and international journalism under the same educational philosophy, as long as each effort remains grounded in the needs of the community it serves.
