Email not displaying correctly?
View it in your browser ([link removed]) .
[link removed]
[link removed]

[link removed]

Eugene Patterson and Nelson Poynter, the publisher of the St. Petersburg Times (now the Tampa Bay Times) and founder of the Modern Media Institute (now the Poynter Institute), are pictured at right, in 1977. Poynter is wearing his signature bowtie. (Poynter file)

Happy New Year! This is a special one for Poynter, which marks 50 years since it opened as the Modern Media Institute in the old savings and loan building in downtown St. Petersburg.
I dug through the archives ([link removed]) for a piece looking back at Poynter’s first 10 years. Since reporting on my book about old Florida hotels ([link removed]) , I’ve started thinking of buildings themselves as characters.
Through that lens, Poynter is certainly a character — once scrappy, now grand (but if you’ve spent much time here, still quite scrappy). Its fashion sense has always included interesting (I’m being kind) carpet. And most importantly, it’s always been a gatherer.
One tradition I didn’t know about until diving into the old photos was that since the very early days, there’s always been a group picture for our in-person events. Here’s the very first one from 1976, outside the old bank.
[link removed]
(Poynter file)

We have a lot of exciting things planned for Poynter’s 50th.
One thing I'm working on is to rebuild another tradition: teach people how to tell stories. I’m working on some in-person and virtual programs as well as collecting all the good and relevant work we’ve built in the last 50 years.
Here’s one of my group photos with my favorite storytellers, the 2023-2024 Poynter-Koch Media and Journalism Fellowship.
[link removed]
Members of the 2023-2024 Poynter-Koch Media and Journalism Fellowship. (Poynter file)

If you’ve come to Poynter at any time in the last 50, I’d love to hear your memories (and see your group photos if you have them.)
That’s it for me. Thanks for reading!
Kristen
Kristen Hare
Faculty
The Poynter Institute
@kristenhare ([link removed])

ADVERTISE ([link removed]) // DONATE ([link removed]) // LEARN ([link removed]) // JOBS ([link removed])
Did someone forward you this email? Sign up here. ([link removed])
[link removed] [link removed] [link removed] [link removed] mailto:[email protected]?subject=Feedback%20for%20Poynter
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
© All rights reserved Poynter Institute 2025
801 Third Street South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701
If you don't want to receive email updates from Poynter, we understand.
You can change your subscription preferences ([link removed]) or unsubscribe from all Poynter emails ([link removed]) .