All Signs Poyntering Downward

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Reflecting the wobbly state of the profession it helps to train, the journalist-gestating, non-profit Poynter Institute for Media Studies lost a whopping $3.8 million in 2011, the last year for which its financial information is available, according to articles in the Saintpetersblog.com blog and the Tampa Tribune.

Compared to Poynter's Form 990 Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax in 2010, when it operated in the red to the tune of $109,206, the 2011 losses are alarming. The St. Petersburg, Florida-based school reportedly still has more than $45 million in net assets to stay afloat, and last November hired a new director to head its new foundation and boost charitable donations.