BLOOMINGTON, Indiana – The Michael I. Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism at The Media School at Indiana University has entered a five-year collaborative agreement with Gray Television Inc. The agreement allows students to partner with professional journalists on investigative projects across Gray’s nationwide platform.

Through this partnership, the students and Gray’s local stations and viewers will all benefit. The students in the center will work with Gray’s national investigative team on mutually agreed-upon projects, receiving professional credit for their contributions. The collaboration will facilitate mentorship opportunities for students through direct access to the award-winning InvestigateTV team and other news professionals in the Gray organization. Members of Gray’s national investigative team will be available to Skype into Arnolt Center classes each semester. This partnership is non-exclusive, so the Arnolt Center can still produce investigative video content independently from Gray.

“Impactful investigative journalism is one of the most important ways we serve our communities,” said Gray Senior Vice President, Local Media, Sandy Breland. “We’re thrilled to be involved in this initiative, which will help develop the next generation of great journalists.”

The investigative journalism on which the students will work will be available for broadcast and digital distribution across Gray’s extensive network of 150 local news television stations in 102 markets. Gray also may distribute the students’ work via InvestigateTV, an award-winning, over-the-top channel that publishes on-demand investigative content available for viewing on Roku, Amazon Fire, at InvestigateTV.com and across Gray broadcast and digital media properties. InvestigateTV provides innovative, original journalism from a dedicated investigative team and partners, including ProPublica, News21 at Arizona State University’s Cronkite School of Journalism and NerdWallet.

“This partnership provides so many potential opportunities for Arnolt Center students,” said Kathleen Johnston, founding director of the Arnolt Center. “The agreement allows our students to produce an investigative project with Gray’s journalists, whether it be its nationally acclaimed investigative team led by Lee Zurik, or its local stations, including its NBC affiliates in Evansville and South Bend, Indiana.”

The Michael I. Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism will officially launch this fall. Its mission is to teach and produce high-quality investigative journalism and provide students with a real-world learning environment.