ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — More than 51,000 journalists and journalism students and teachers are now registered users of News University (www.newsu.org), setting a new record for online journalism training.
The dramatic growth in the e-learning site demonstrates the hunger in the industry for journalism training and the power of the Internet to transform training in the newsroom and in the classroom.
With users in more than 175 countries, NewsU, a project of The Poynter Institute funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, is the leading online learning destination of journalists worldwide.
“Fifty-one thousand … that’s like filling a baseball stadium with journalists who want to learn how to get better,” said Eric Newton, vice president, journalism program, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Launched in April 2005, NewsU continually adds to a growing list of partners, courses and features. Its latest courses include:
- Two courses for assigning or frontline editors – Frontline Editors Introduction: Understanding Leadership Styles and Frontline Editors, Personal Edition: Job Aptitude and Analysis, in partnership with the Frontline Editors Project
- Understanding and Interpreting Polls, in partnership with the American Association for Public Opinion Research
- Coaching Tomorrow’s Journalists, in partnership with the Newspaper Association of America Foundation
- On the Beat: Covering Hospitals, in partnership with the Association of Health Care Journalists
- On the Beat: Writing Obituaries, with Alana Baranick, an award-winning obituary writer at the Cleveland Plain Dealer
“The power of NewsU comes not only from our producers and designers but also from the collective wisdom of our partners. No other journalism training project has this many. They give us a network of trainers as we build our network of learners,” says Howard I. Finberg, director of interactive learning at The Poynter Institute and leader of the NewsU project.
NewsU now offers more than 50 courses that cover the craft skills and professional values of journalism: from reporting, writing and editing; multimedia skills; ethics and diversity; visual journalism; broadcast and online; and leadership and management. Most courses are free, and many take just an hour or two to complete.
Future projects at NewsU include a partnership with the Suburban Newspaper Association to create modules aimed specifically at hyper-local publishers in suburbs and small communities to help them understand how to make better use of the Web and other digital devices. Another partnership that will have a major rollout in 2008 is the Radio and Television News Directors Association. Several new broadcast-specific modules are under development.
NewsU also is creating additional site features for users that will be unveiled in the spring of 2008.
About News University @ The Poynter Institute
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 via its blog, Access (www.access.newsu.org). The program is a project of The Poynter Institute and is funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
About Knight Foundation
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes journalism excellence worldwide and invests in the vitality of the U.S. communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Since 1950 the foundation has granted more than $300 million to advance journalism quality and freedom of expression. Knight Foundation supports ideas and projects that create transformational change.
About The Poynter Institute Founded in 1975 in St. Petersburg, Fla., The Poynter Institute (www.poynter.org) is one of the nation’s top schools for professional journalists, future journalists and journalism teachers. Poynter offers training throughout the year in the areas of online and multimedia, leadership and management, reporting, writing and editing, TV and radio, ethics and diversity, journalism education and visual journalism.