ST PETERSBURG, FLA. – News University (www.newsu.org), an innovative e-learning center that helps journalists through self-directed training, today released its first beat-specific course, “Covering Water Quality.” The course, a partnership between the Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) and NewsU, helps participants gain a better understanding of the issues surrounding the quality of drinking water.
“Working with SEJ has been an exciting opportunity to develop an e-learning course that not only serves the organization’s members, but the journalism world as a whole,” said Howard Finberg, director, interactive learning, The Poynter Institute/NewsU.
The course helps journalists build the skills to develop compelling stories, teaches them how to look for information on sites such as the Environmental Protection Agency, and tests their knowledge of water quality issues in an engaging and fun way.
“ ‘Covering Water Quality’ is a course that presents an engaging mix of essential knowledge, key resources and skill-building exercises that can deepen and enhance any journalist’s coverage of water quality. The module is full of specific information, valuable examples and creative ideas that reporters and editors can put to immediate use,” said Beth Parke, executive director of the Society of Environmental Journalists.
Both partners believe that issues surrounding water quality affect every community and that journalists need to have the resources to properly understand and cover this topic.
“There are many fine points in the NewsU Course. This is exactly what is needed on both the academic and professional fronts – detailed information and training online for reporters who have to take on complex beats without a lot of time for backgrounding,” said Bill Kovarik, Ph.D., professor of media studies, Radford Univeristy. Kovarik served as a course tester for the online course.
For a first-hand look at “Covering Water Quality” and other online training courses for journalists, please visit www.newsu.org.
About the Society of Environmental Journalists
The Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) is the world’s oldest and largest membership organization of individual working journalists dedicated to improvements in environmental news reporting. SEJ’s mission is to advance public understanding of environmental issues by improving the quality, accuracy and visibility of environmental reporting.
About News University
News University (www.newsu.org) offers newsroom training to journalists and journalism students through its interactive e-learning program and links to other journalism education and training opportunities. The program is a project of The Poynter Institute funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
About The Poynter Institute
The Poynter Institute (www.poynter.org) is a school for journalists, future journalists and teachers of journalism. Poynter conducts about 50 seminars annually in the areas of leadership and management, reporting and writing, broadcast, ethics and diversity, and visual journalism. The school owns the Times Publishing Co., the parent company of the St. Petersburg Times, Congressional Quarterly and other publications.
About the Knight Foundation