The Poynter Institute and The McClatchy Company will expand the training program they began last year. Poynter was able to align some new teaching around McClatchy’s emphasis on news video, Poynter Director of Training Partnerships and Alliances Howard Finberg said in a phone call: “We were able to help shape the offerings for this year in support of their efforts,” he said.
McClatchy Vice President of News Anders Gyllenhaal said Poynter’s training reached “a little less than half” of the company’s journalists in the past year through three certificate programs and 11 webinars offered through Poynter’s News University.
Sacramento Bee Executive Editor Joyce Terhaar tells Poynter in an email that 54 people in its newsroom took 120 hours of Poynter classes last year. “I’m happy with that number because our big training emphasis in Sacramento last year was on our new Newsgate 3 publishing system, which involved 1,406 training hours across the room,” she writes. “With that behind us, I’m looking forward to our newsroom becoming more fully engaged with the Poynter training this year.”
“We want one year’s training to build on the next,” Gyllenhaal said in a phone call. “We want one course to build on what you’ve already taken.”
In addition to the video training — a “discipline that many of the staff members haven’t been brought up doing” — McClatchy will concentrate this year on database reporting and “the whole realm of digital publishing,” Gyllenhaal said. Finberg said Poynter would develop a program about data journalism “that will be broadcast live and recorded for all McClatchy reporters and editors who are interested in the topic.” Journalists outside McClatchy will be able to view the program as well for a fee, Finberg said.
This year, Poynter will offer McClatchy 10 new webinars as well as an additional certificate in editing developed with the American Copy Editors Society. Last year about 300 McClatchy journalists attended Poynter webinars, Finberg said.
“This partnership with McClatchy is a tangible example of how Poynter can work with individual media companies and tailor training to meet their strategic goals,” Poynter President Tim Franklin said in an email. “We worked closely with McClatchy editors in building this program, and we listened to what their needs are and where they want to strengthen themselves for the future. Then, we built a unique program just for McClatchy.”
“This is a time of profound transformation in the media industry, and Poynter’s role in helping organizations navigate that change has never been more valuable. We’re thrilled to be working with McClatchy, and helping fill a need that they have.”
