The Poynter Newsroom Readiness Certificate gives you supplemental background knowledge of newsgathering, interviewing, media law, media ethics and diversity — basics all journalists should master.

This self-paced course includes five lessons and a final assessment. Topics and their learning outcomes include :

Newsgathering: Gain a solid understanding of the building blocks of news and use sound news judgment in your fact-gathering and production process.
Interviewing: Deepen your knowledge in the art of interviewing, including how to ask good questions and how to successfully engage with your sources and topics.
Media law: Ensure you know what to do and what not to do to keep your publication legally in the clear by understanding the fundamentals of media law.
Media ethics: Brush up on the values that inform our ethical decision-making and learn to make tough calls on quick deadlines.
Diversity: Learn the importance of diverse sources, along with techniques for integrating them into your work.

Please note: This course is designed for student journalists, but is marketed to those hiring student journalists in college or professional newsrooms. It is not intended to replace collegiate-level courses in topics like media law and ethics. Rather, it’s designed to supplement classroom learning and to fill in any potential gaps that students might have around important skill sets.

Instructor

Barbara Allen

College Programming Director
Poynter Institute