Poynter endeavors to limit the collection of “Personal Information” to what we need to perform optimal services to our clients and to make informed decisions to improve our educational programs and other products. We collect Personal Information, which may include, but is not limited to, your name, contact information, gender, date of birth, and occupation. Such information is collected when you sign up for a user account.
Poynter does not currently collect financial information from you, other than information entered on the system to make payments. Nevertheless, Poynter does not save this information. Further, Poynter does not currently share your information with third parties. Rather, Poynter maintains information within the organization for use by Poynter to improve products and customer service.
Comments or other information posted by you on our forums, discussion threads or other areas of Poynter sites designed for public communications or communications among class members, or forum members may be viewed and downloaded by others who visit the sites. For this reason, we encourage you to use discretion when deciding whether to post any information that can be used to identify you to those forums. Furthermore, anything you post in discussion threads on Poynter sites should be considered public information over which you do not have an expectation of privacy. Poynter encourages all participants in discussion threads, emails, chats, or social media posts to adhere to a high level of professionalism.
Our goal is to provide current and future visitors with the best possible educational experience. To that end, we strive to personalize the experience to the individual learner, to evaluate the effectiveness of our course materials, to improve our understanding of the learning process and to otherwise improve the effectiveness of our courses.
From time to time we review and may make changes to this Privacy Policy. When changes are made, the new Privacy Policy will be distributed to users, and will be effective immediately. By accessing the site after any changes have been made, you signify your agreement on a prospective basis to the modified Privacy Policy and any changes contained therein. In case you miss the notification referenced above, be sure to return to this page periodically to ensure familiarity with the most current version of this Privacy Policy.
If you have any privacy concerns or questions, please email info@newsu.org.
For information about Poynter’s Refund Policies, click here for News University online coursework or click here for in-person training.
News University Terms & Conditions
The News University website is owned and managed by the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, Inc. (“Poynter”) and as a user you are granted a non-exclusive, revocable license to access News University under its terms and conditions of use. Your use of News University constitutes your agreement to the following terms and conditions of use. Poynter may terminate your use of News University if you are in breach of these terms and conditions or if Poynter decides to terminate your license for whatever reason.
All materials contained on News University are produced or developed by Poynter or Poynter’s employees, representatives, agents or contractors and are owned exclusively by Poynter (“Project Materials”). Poynter retains all intellectual property right, title and interest in the Project Materials, including software, design, tools, course materials and Service Components related to its e-learning platform and its existing course modules.
You understand and agree that you have been given a unique login for your use only and you will not let anyone else use your login to access the News University website or the content on the site, which is the property of Poynter. You acknowledge Poynter owns and controls all content on the News University site, and you may not download, modify, publish, transmit or sell, reproduce, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, link, display, or in any way exploit any of the Project Materials, in whole or in part, except as expressly permitted in these terms and conditions or with the prior written consent of Poynter. You may not use electronic or other means to extract details or information about Poynter’s Project Materials, users or contributors in order to offer them any services or products which compete directly or indirectly with Poynter services and products.
News University Refund Policy
The Poynter Institute does not offer refunds on tuition or fees for webinars, self-directed courses, certificate programs or college edition course packs because most of our online curriculum is available immediately upon purchase. The content of the course or course package is available to the registered user for one year after purchase.
For hybrid programs (those in which an in-person workshop is paired with online instruction) or online group seminars (courses in which assignments are given by the instructor in addition to online instruction), much of the teaching is prepared specifically for the course. Up to three weeks before the start of the program, we will offer a refund minus a 25% processing fee. Once the program is underway, no refund is available.
We will consider extenuating circumstances on a case-by-case basis. If you have questions, please contact info@newsu.org.
Refund Policy for In-Person Training
Tuition paid by participating individual
Requests for a tuition refund must be received in writing within 5 business days of payment receipt. Poynter will refund the full amount of tuition minus a 25% processing fee.
In lieu of a tuition refund minus processing fee, Poynter will credit the full amount of tuition to apply to any other Poynter training, including online through News University, to be redeemed within one year of the date on which payment was received. Participant is responsible for any difference in tuition amounts between programs. If the newly selected program tuition is less than the original tuition, Poynter will refund the difference minus a 25% processing fee.
We will consider extenuating circumstances on a case-by-case basis. If you have questions, please contact seminars@poynter.org. (If you need information about the refund policy for News University online coursework, click here.)
Tuition paid by an organization on behalf of participating individual
For cases in which an organization paid tuition, the company may designate another employee to attend the same training session pending approval from the lead program instructor.
Requests for a tuition refund must be received in writing within 5 business days of payment receipt. Poynter will refund the full amount of tuition minus a 25% processing fee.
If the organization chooses to defer tuition toward a program within one calendar year of payment date, the company will be responsible for any difference in tuition.
We will consider extenuating circumstances on a case-by-case basis. If you have questions, please contact seminars@poynter.org. (If you need information about the refund policy for News University online coursework, click here.)