25 journalists from around the Americas will spend two months focusing on product thinking in the newsroom.
The Newmark Graduate School of Journalism is pleased to announce the first 2021 cohort of the Product Immersion for Small Newsrooms program. The two-month online training, which starts in January, is designed to teach journalists in small to midsize local news organizations to build, launch, and grow news products that serve audiences’ needs.
The 25 journalists in this cohort live in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico, and the U.S. They work for magazines, newspapers, digital outlets, radio stations, television channels, and other news-related organizations. More than half work in newsrooms with 10 or fewer employees.
“These exceptional journalists represent our hopes for the future of our industry: Media professionals who understand the importance of product thinking for the digital transformation of local newsrooms and for their eventual sustainability,” said Marie Gilot, director of J+, the professional development division of the Newmark J-School. “We can’t wait to get started with the training and give this cohort the tools and techniques they need to make a real change in their newsrooms.”
The program is a collaboration with News Catalyst and the Google News Initiative. All instruction will be in English, and the courses will be a mix of asynchronous and live lectures, discussions, and small-group coaching.
Each week will feature news professionals with experience as product leaders — in startups, legacy companies, and nonprofits. They’ll be joined by a roster of guest speakers, coaches, and organizers.
There will be two more cohorts of the program, one for journalists in Europe/Middle East/Africa and one in Asia-Pacific; applications for these cohorts will open in 2021. Join our mailing list for updates.
Meet the 2021 Americas cohort of the Product Immersion program.
- Shereen Adel is the production manager for KALW’s evening news and culture show Crosscurrents in Oakland, California, U.S.
- Marina Aranha is editor-in-chief of Revista Revide, a magazine in Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil.
- Gabriela Brenes is the executive director of La Voz de Guanacaste, a hyperlocal news organization in Guanacaste, Costa Rica.
- Maria Martha Bruno is the content director at Genero e Numero, a data journalism organization that covers gender and race issues in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- Carol Cavaleiro is co-founder and head of innovation at Aos Fatos, a multi-platform fact-checking agency in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- Rocío Galvez is product manager at Canal 9 Televida in Mendoza, Argentina.
- Pablo Hamada is a journalist at La Gaceta, a regional newspaper located in Tucumán, Argentina.
- Elizabeth Hardison covers state government for the Pennsylvania Capital-Star in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.
- Tim Lam is editor-in-chief of Cold Tea Collective, an online publication that tells stories for and by the Asian millennial diaspora in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
- Katrina Louis is managing editor for QCity Metro, one of the nation’s first digital-only news organizations founded to serve a local, Black audience, in Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S.
- Lucas Luna is the membership and community development manager at Mi Voz media network in Santiago, Chile.
- Marta Martinez is creative editor at the journalistic production company Dromómanos in Mexico City, Mexico.
- Gracie McKenzie is the engagement editor for The Trace, a nonprofit investigative newsroom that covers guns and gun violence in Washington, DC, U.S.
- Erin McPherson is an editor for RALtoday, which is part of 6AM City in Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S.
- Laura Moscoso is a data journalist and trainer at the Center for Investigative Journalism and also works at the feminist digital news outlet Todas in San Juan, Puerto Rico, U.S.
- Tania Opazo works as interactive and multimedia projects editor at La Tercera, a national newspaper in Santiago, Chile.
- Kevon Paynter is the founder of a media cooperative and digital news startup called Bloc By Block News in Columbia, Maryland, U.S.
- Francisco Pazos is senior digital content editor at ElBigData, a data journalism startup in Mexico City, Mexico.
- Pablo Pechuan oversees the Projects section at Diario Huarpe in San Juan, Argentina.
- Erica Peterson is the managing editor of Mountain State Spotlight, an independent, civic news organization in Charleston, West Virginia, U.S.
- Karoline Pinheiro is a reporter at Emerge Mag, a non-profit and independent content platform that covers suburban artists and social activists, especially Black, female, and LGBTQI+ people in São Paulo, Brazil.
- Maria Vitória Ramos is the co-founder and CEO of Fiquem Sabendo, a media startup keeping the powerful accountable through FOIA requests in São Paulo, Brazil.
- Sheena Rossiter is senior digital producer at The Walrus in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
- Kelsey Ryan is founder and publisher of The Beacon, a nonprofit news organization in Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.
- Trudi Shaffer Hargis is the director of product development at the Times Union in Albany, New York, U.S.