The Committee of Concerned Journalists puts together a training program from the modules available below. Our standard training session includes three modules taught over the course of a day and a half. Popular combinations are suggested with most modules.
For information about scheduling a visit to your newsroom, please check out the FAQs, contact us by email or call us at 202-662-7155.
ACCURACY AND VERIFICATION
The 24-hour news cycle is the blessing and curse of modern newsgathering. Technology has made information easier to get and transmit, but have you thought through the implications of that change on journalists’ traditional role as gatekeepers? This module deals with such problems as how to handle unsubstantiated stories that other media outlets with varying standards have put “out there.”
The module encourages journalists to examine their methods of reporting and verifying information and presses them to think whether they are getting at “the truth about the facts,” as the Hutchins Commission put it 50 years ago. It offers concrete suggestions for enhancing credibility with readers and improving accuracy, including checklists and advice on how to handle anonymous sources.
This module works well combined with:
Bias and Engagement
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BIAS
This module deals with one of the most complex and complicated concepts in contemporary journalism: bias. It begins with the simplest of questions: “What is journalistic bias?” Should it be stamped out, or are some kinds of bias that are inevitable, even necessary, for storytelling? The discussion moves quickly into the real world as participants examine and evaluate actual news stories.
The module tackles the question of political bias, the bias most often flagged by audiences, before bringing the discussion home by focusing on the organization. Participants will consider any possible biases that may influence their reporting (in both positive and negative ways). In addition, the module offers practical strategies staffers can use to identify their predispositions and avoid those biases they deem inappropriate.
This module works well combined with:
Accuracy & Verification and Engagement
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BIAS AND VERIFICATION
This module is a condensed combination of the two modules above and is ideal for organizations with only a limited amount of time to devote to training. The discussion begins by focusing on bias, asking participants: "What is bias?" Participants will then move through a full discussion of bias—its pitfalls and its potential benefits—before turning their attention to a potential solution to bias: verification. Journalists will be pushed to examine their own methods of reporting and verifying information. The module then offers concrete suggestions for enhancing credibility with readers and improving accuracy, including checklists and advice on how to handle anonymous sources.
This module works well combined with:
The Next Newsroom and Engagement
Watchdog and Conscience & Communication
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COMMUNITY ROUNDTABLE: HOW CITIZENS CAN HELP YOUR NEWSROOM
Many news organizations tell us they see value in having a closer connection with their community. But organizing those interactions in ways that make them useful is not always easy. This module facilitates a discussion between the newsroom and the community that turns such efforts into something productive for your staff and for your audience.
It is not a marketing focus group. Instead, the goal of is to enlighten journalists about the needs of the community and to create an even more sophisticated audience for news. The Committee facilitator serves as an independent voice engaging citizens and journalists in a Socratic discussion, not about the specific news organization, but to discover how members of the community use the news.
This module requires serious planning on the part of the news organization, which must arrange for the audience of citizens, readers, community leaders etc. that they want to involve. They also need to rent the space, get the audience, do the advertising and so on. CCJ trainers will act as moderators.
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CONSCIENCE AND COMMUNICATION
An atmosphere of openness in the newsroom is the key to using your newsroom’s diversity effectively. This module focuses on how journalists can communicate with each other better on both day-to-day stories and the tough decisions that sometimes occur on deadline. The discussion centers on the importance of hearing all voices and creating diversity in the newsroom that goes beyond traditional concepts (gender, ethnicity, race etc.) to include intellectual diversity. Do the voices in the newsroom truly represent your entire community?
The module examines how journalists can exercise their conscience in their work and deal with difficult ethical questions that arise. It also allows participants to discuss the roadblocks they see in the organization – the way meetings are held, how disagreements are handled – and propose ways to manage such issues.
This module works well combined with:
Bias & Verification and Watchdog
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COVERING POLITICS
Reporting on government and campaigns is close to the heart of what journalists do and it remains one of the most important functions media fulfill in civic society. But how well do journalists do it in an age of political spin and divisive partisanship? Are the old ways still relevant? Are there new approaches?
To develop the module, the Committee gathered a diverse group of top political reporters and editors from around the country to consider how journalists might be failing their audience and what they can do about it. The module discusses the purpose of political reporting, assesses the participants’s own reflexes and routines and offers a host of tools and ideas for improving political coverage. Finally, trainers will ask participants to generate a new plan for covering an upcoming race.
While some might think this module should be limited to those who specialize in political reporting, it may actually be particularly valuable to tap the perspectives of a diverse range of staffers from all levels and departments, particularly those who traditionally have no direct role in shaping political coverage.
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ENGAGEMENT AND PROPORTIONALITY: MAKING IMPORTANT STORIES INTERESTING
A key task of journalism is to make the important interesting. Keeping in mind the values and the purpose of the organization, participants are asked to debate the supposed dichotomy between what readers want to know and what they need to know. Is there an inevitable a conflict or can we do both? The discussion moves forward by asking participants to review sections of their own newspaper and consider how what is written reflects the community. Who is included in their stories? Who is left out?
The module offers ideas on how to make stories more relevant and pushes participants to engage in dialogue about the community they serve. Is everyone served by the work they are doing? Is the whole community being engaged? The end of the module is a brainstorming session during which participants discuss various elements of your community, first as citizens then as journalists. As an added benefit, this exercise will potentially produce dozens of great story ideas for your organization to pursue.
This module works well combined with:
Bias & Verification and The Next Newsroom
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JOURNALISM IN A TIME OF NATIONAL CRISIS
This module explores the proper relationship between journalists and the elements of power (government, military, judiciary etc) in today’s climate of war and terrorism. It’s a good companion to bias, verification, or watchdog because it pushes the questions raised in these modules into today’s context.
September 11 changed the dynamic between journalists and power, and between journalists and their public. The government has drifted towards secrecy, classifying documents that used to be readily available and restricting access to information for reasons of “national security.” In turn, readers and viewers have questioned the appropriateness of some of what journalists have produced, whether it was pictures of people jumping from the World Trade Center before the twins collapse or stories of prisoner abuse in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Journalistic independence is our goal, but how do we achieve it today? Is there a distinction between being a journalist and being a citizen? How does a journalist evaluate the national security implications of her reporting? What are the discussions a newsroom needs to have before printing information classified “secret”? How can a journalist convey news that is critical of American policies and actions without being called "unpatriotic"?
This module works well combined with:
Bias & Verification and Watchdog
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THE MEANING OF JOURNALISTIC INDEPENDENCE
How can journalists be impartial without becoming so isolated they lose touch with their audience? This module helps journalists think through their role in relation to sources and the community and their ultimate obligation to their audience.
The module begins with a group discussion in which participants outline their ideas about independence in contrast with the controversial thinking of some other prominent journalists. Breaking into small groups, the group then works through what they would do if involved in some real-life situations in which newsrooms have had to deal with real or perceived conflicts of interest or other tests to their independence.
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THE NEXT NEWSROOM: RETHINKING THE NEWS IN THE ONLINE AGE
As more and more media begin experimenting with the 24-hours news cycle, the responsibilities of the journalist begin to change. This module emphasizes that the basic principles underlying quality journalism apply regardless of medium and will push participants to consider how they can best execute these principles given changing work routines, expanding possibilities and the ever-evolving needs of their audiences.
As part of the discussion, the module proposes the need to regard the Web as the main platform for news distribution in the near future. In this context, participants will be asked to imagine how their newsroom might look in five years and discuss the changing role of the journalist in that environment.
This module works well combined with:
Bias & Verification and Engagement
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SYNERGY: HOW TO DEAL WITH GROWING BUSINESS PRESSURES IN THE NEWS
How do journalists fulfill their traditional role as gatekeepers in an age of joint ventures, conglomeration and convergence? How do the sweeping technological and economic changes of recent years affect reporting? How can journalists preserve the integrity of their organizations and their journalistic independence in this new climate?
This module explores the implications of the new relationship between the newsroom and the boardroom. It begins by presenting workshop attendees with a question most find uncomfortable: “What is the product you’re selling?” The discussion then moves on to deal with case studies on difficult situations involving ownership. The key is to examine the ways in which the newsroom communicates across departments and to examine how to maintain journalistic independence and integrity in a culture beyond walls.
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WATCHDOG JOURNALISM
Investigative journalism is as old as journalism itself. In 1644, one of the first print periodicals, The Spie, promised to go undercover if need be to expose wrongdoing. But the question remains: is investigative work different than other types of reporting? How? Is there a role for people who are not on dedicated investigative teams? In television, investigative journalism has evolved from a tool into a franchise. Does that affect the work of a newspaper?
Watchdog gets journalists thinking about subtle but important distinctions in investigative reporting, such as the differences between original investigative work and reporting on the investigations of others, or investigations into consumerism versus those of public institutions. Participants will also be given a few ideas on how to manage a major investigative project and asked to brainstorm a list of possible investigative projects.
This module works well combined with:
Bias & Verification and Conscience & Communication
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**SPECIAL FOR NON-EDITORIAL DIVISIONS: THE BUSINESS OF NEWS
A module for the business side of your news organatization
This module was developed in response to requests from several news organizations. Using the same principles and ideas as our newsroom modules, The Business of News is designed to explore how the business side operates and communicates with the news side. Working with individuals from the non-editorial divisions (advertising, distribution, production), the module begins with a question we often ask of newsroom personnel, “What is the purpose of what you do here?”
Drawing from real-life experiences, the session uses small group exercises and large group discussions to explore situations where journalism and the business of journalism may come into conflict. Attendees will then work to develop strategies for appropriately and productively communicating with their newsroom colleagues.
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