Privacy Policy

Poynter limits the collection of personal information to what we need to identify and contact customers to recommend teaching or other Poynter resources. We collect personal information from anyone who signs up for a Poynter account or applies for a program or event, including name and email address. We ask for other optional information, including contact information, gender, date of birth, occupation and interests.

Poynter uses third party recognized payment processors such as PayPal and Stripe to process payments. We do not save this information. Alternatively, it is possible to make a payment by mail to 801 Third Street South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701, Attn: Accounting.

Poynter does not share information with third parties. Rather, Poynter maintains information within the organization for use by Poynter to improve products and customer service. We do use contact information from participants in our teaching and from those who register on our website to contact them about our work, including emails promoting upcoming teaching. Individuals may opt out of those communications by clicking on the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of the email.

Comments or other information posted on forums, discussion threads or other areas of Poynter’s social media channels designed for public communications or communications among class members or forum members may be viewed and downloaded by others who visit those channels. For this reason, Poynter urges everyone to use discretion when deciding whether to post any information that can be used to identify them. Anything posted in discussion threads on Poynter websites or Poynter-led social media channels should be considered public information for which there is no expectation of privacy.

Poynter encourages all participants in discussion threads, comments emails, chats, or social media posts to be respectful and constructive and avoid personal attacks. We will take appropriate measures should individuals repeatedly violate these terms.

Our goal is to provide visitors to our workshops, events and e-learning 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 teaching.

Poynter Terms & Conditions

The Poynter 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 Poynter under its terms and conditions of use. Your use of Poynter constitutes your agreement to the following terms and conditions of use. Poynter may terminate your login access 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 Poynter.org 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 Poynter website or the content on the site, which is the property of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, Inc.. You acknowledge Poynter owns and controls all content on this 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.

Disclaimer

Poynter makes no representations about the information contained in the documents, audio, video and related graphics published for any purpose. All such documents, audio, video and related graphics are provided “as is” without warranty of any kind. Poynter hereby disclaims all warranties and conditions with regard to this information, including all implied warranties and conditions of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title and non-infringement. In no event shall Poynter be liable for any special, indirect or consequential damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data or profits, whether in an action of contract, negligence or other tortious action, arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of information available from Poynter.

If you have any questions about courses, please email info@poynter.org.

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@poynter.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.

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.