Custom Training

J+ helps news organizations, media companies and schools close their skills gaps and promote from within.

  • Bring your staff up to speed on basic digital skills
  • Adopt digital tools and techniques that connect with audiences
  • Specialize in advanced storytelling methods

What We Teach

Through surveys, conversation with leading journalists and experience with our own J+ workshops, we have our finger on the pulse of the industry. We teach the skills that are immediately relevant and in demand at forward-thinking organizations:

This track is especially curated for newsrooms with staff who are latecomers to digital technologies to introduce relevant digital skills needed to connect with audiences, produce impactful work in the digital age and identify hidden talents.

  • Web and social media analytics
  • Web writing and SEO
  • Verification
  • Social media for reporting
  • Data analysis and visualization
  • Social media for authentic engagement
  • Team management and diversity
  • Design and product-thinking for news
  • Emerging technologies
CustomHeader

Training with J+

  • Flexible. Onsite, online or at our school, conveniently located in Midtown Manhattan
  • Affordable. The Newmark J-School is mission driven and that mission is to make training accessible to the broadest and most diverse range of professionals.
  • Expert. In the past four years, J+ has put together 80 digital skills workshops at the schools, numerous summer bootcamps for international journalists and more than two dozen custom group training for organizations of different sizes. In total, we trained more than 4,000 people. We use instructors picked from our award-winning faculty and our network of leading-edge professional journalists at top news organizations.
  • Hands-on and bite-size. Short, hands-on workshops are the best way to make an impact and combat “training fatigue.” We generally keep our workshops to 90 minutes and to a maximum of 20 participants. And we focus on producing “a-ha” moments, small wins that stick with the participant.
  • Tailored and collaborative. We work with you to align the curriculum to your specific skill levels and goals. We seek feedback throughout the training so we can pivot if something is not working.
  • Inspiring. We never lose sight of the ultimate goal: Producing quality journalism. We use examples of journalism excellence from inside your company and from competitors. We want you to leave our training energized and inspired.
  • Get started. Send an email to Marie Gilot, J+ Director, at marie.gilot@journalism.cuny.edu, and let’s talk.

Case studies

J+ custom training for The Philadelphia Media Network

The Philadelphia Media Network

As part of their digital transformation, the largest newspapers in Philadelphia needed to

train the 250 reporters and editors in their newly merged newsroom in digital skills that grow traffic, deepen audience engagement and produce high-quality journalism in a digital space.

In Philadelphia, J+ conducted more than 50 workshops by a dozen instructors over 10 months. We structured the training to be a progression, starting with each journalist exploring her own web and social media analytics and learning ways to improve these analytics through engagement, social media reporting, online writing tips, photos and videos and basic data journalism. Each class reinforced past classes to increase stickiness. We finished the series with a half-day design thinking exercise that led to a better understanding of Philly audiences and their information needs.  

J+ custom training for the Danish School of Media and Journalism

Danish School of Media and Journalism

Every year, the Danish School of Media and Journalism brings groups of Danish journalists to the Newmark J-School to explore the innovative techniques at the leading edge of American journalism.

J+ organizes three-day, “soup to nuts” bootcamps for them, delving into a particular discipline such as audience engagement and product development. Each bootcamp is taught at the school by our expert faculty and guest speakers from the best New York newsrooms. Included are extensive hands-on exercises that contribute to group bonding, spur creativity and make the class’ takeaways memorable.

J+ custom training for WAMU's “Guns & America”

“Guns & America”

When WAMU launched the national public media reporting collaborative Guns & America, the radio station wanted the 10 journalists involved in the project to broaden their storytelling beyond audio platforms.

J+ delivered a day-and-a-half training session during the Guns & America fellows’ onboarding in Washington, DC. We focused on visual storytelling skills in a mix of lecture and two rounds of hands-on practice to instill in the fellows the technical skills and sensibilities of a visual journalist. Under the guidance of a seasoned photojournalist and an expert in digital media trends, the fellows learned to shoot great photos and short social media videos with their smartphones –visuals that will dramatically increase audience engagement around their important work.

About the J+ Program:

J+​ is the professional development arm of the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. In the past four years, J+ designed and executed more than 80 workshops at the school, 16 summer bootcamps for international journalists and 30 custom group sessions. J+ has experience training both small and large organizations, for example the Philadelphia Media Network (Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News and philly.com) with 250 people, the Guns & America project at WAMU with 10 people, and the Danish School of Media and Journalism with groups of 12-18 people. In total, we trained more than 4,200 people.

J+ teaches the digital skills that are relevant in media at the moment and that are expected to become the norm in the near future, including web and social media video, augmented reality, artificial intelligence and bots, data journalism, audience engagement, product thinking, and management/leadership, among others. Our workshops are hands-on and taught by our award-winning faculty and our network of leading-edge journalists at top news organizations.

Marie Gilot
Director of J+
Twitter @louiegilot
marie.gilot@journalism.cuny.edu

Luciana Hall-Pearson
Associate Director of J+
Twitter @lucianaHP
luciana.pearson@journalism.cuny.edu