“When it comes to almost any field, universities play a role in R&D,” Mr. Shepard said. “When it comes to journalism there hasn’t really been very much of that, and this is the perfect moment for it.”  Columbia will focus on training its journalism students in digital media. The journalism school’s dean, Nicholas B. Lemann, said the school planned to hire two professors in new media and to develop a curriculum that may include data-driven reporting and software design for news organizations.  Other philanthropists are also focusing on journalism. Last October, Herbert M. and Marion O. Sandler announced they were creating an investigative journalism nonprofit called ProPublica, to which they committed $30 million over three years.  The Tow Foundation has mostly funded juvenile justice and medical causes; it, along with another Tow family foundation, is about $110 million in size.  Mr. Tow, a former chief executive of Citizens Communications, and Century Communications, said he decided to fund journalism for two reasons: he was worried about the industry, and, as a native of Brooklyn and a graduate of Columbia, he was annoyed that an Internet institute at Harvard seemed to dominate new media.  Under the terms of the Tow Foundation’s pledge, the schools have 18 months to raise their own funds for the effort. Columbia must raise $10 million on its own and CUNY $3 million before the foundation hands over a check.  A version of this article appears in print on , on Page C4 of the New York edition with the headline: Philanthropist Giving Millions To Two Schools Of Journalism. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
Leonard Tow is pledging $5 million to Columbia University and $3 million to the City University of New York to examine how the troubled newspaper business can succeed online.