Two newspaper executives from Latin America have been named the third annual recipients of the Creighton Scholarships to study at Northwestern University's Media Management Center.

Jorge Eduardo Springmuhl of Guatemala and Anabel Burga Cerro of Peru are attending the center’s Advanced Executive Program as Creighton Scholars.

Springmuhl is the general manager of Prensa Libre, the institution that owns the newspapers el Periodico and Nuestro Diario in Guatemala City, Guatemala.
Under his leadership, Editor & Publisher awarded Nuestro Diario a first-place honor in the “Outstanding Results” category. Springmuhl said that in order to exercise freedom of expression in Guatemala, it is necessary to have an independent and economically strong press.

“Newspapers are vital to open democratic spaces among the different sectors of society and necessary to achieve positive changes in the population’s idiosyncrasy and in education processes, strengthening lasting peace and prosperity of the people,” Springmuhl said. “Additionally, the press plays an important role by examining the government as a counterforce against corruption and injustice.”

Burga Cerro has been the marketing manager of La Industria de Trujillo for five years.

Michael P. Smith, the center’s managing director, announced the two scholarships in December. Each year the Creighton Scholars program pays for the expenses of two media executives from Latin America or the Caribbean to study at the Media Management Center. The scholarships are named in honor of Neal Creighton, the retired president and chief executive officer of the Robert. R. McCormick Tribune Foundation and a leading proponent of the freedom of expression.

Creighton retired from the military in 1984 as a major general. During his career, he had more than 15 years of foreign duty, including assignments in the Dominican Republic and Panama. Additionally, Creighton’s Pentagon assignments included service as a military assistant in the office of the Secretary of the Army, deputy director of operations and readiness for the Army, and director of the Inter-American Region in the office of the assistant Secretary of Defense.

Under Creighton’s leadership, McCormick’s support of Northwestern has nurtured the Media Management Center into the leading executive education and research center for the media. Its Advanced Executive Program is an intense education program for senior leaders in the news industries.

In two two-week periods, the executives learn strategy, marketing, leadership and journalism from a management perspective. Each class of no more than 40 individuals is put through rigorous financial, accounting and other analytical courses, as well as personal improvement programs such as communications skill, negotiations and team building. The combination of business vitality and the essential role of the media in a free and democratic society make this program especially relevant to executives from Latin America.

The Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation is one of the nation’s largest charitable foundations, with combined assets of more than $2 billion and annual giving in excess of $100 million. This foundation supports grant-making in four areas: promoting local philanthropy through its communities’ programs; working to improve early childhood education in the Chicago area; supporting journalism and a free press in the Americas, and encouraging active citizenship and volunteerism. The Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation also includes two operating foundations, the Cantigny Foundation and the Cantigny First Division Foundation.