I’ve met a lot of students during my almost two decades of college media advising. I’ve spoken to you at conventions, trained you at your universities or remotely and hosted you on my former Twitter chat.
Through the years a lot of you have said you would love to take a class with me. Sadly, there were always a couple of roadblocks in the way. One was that I live in Oklahoma, a state many of you were unable to visit or uninterested in visiting. The second was the price of even a single class at the private school where I spent my career until now. These were pretty substantial roadblocks, but they’ve been removed.
Thanks to a new partnership between College Media Association and College Media Network, you have the opportunity to take two eight-week training courses with me. The courses, which begin Sept. 16, are Trauma Reporting and Newsroom Leadership.

Trauma Reporting
The Trauma Reporting course will help you learn the fundamentals of victims reporting and covering traumatic events. You also will have a better understanding of how you can recognize emotional trauma symptoms in yourself and your peers, and how you can support each other.
During the course you will learn:
- How to understand and identify emotional trauma and its symptoms
- Why journalists are prone to emotional trauma and which journalists are most likely to experience it
- How to report on small- and large-scale traumatic events
- How to interview victims
- How to write about traumatic happenings and display traumatic images in a complete yet sensitive manner
- How to cover sexual assault and violence
You will learn these aspect of trauma reporting through expert lectures, online discussions and trauma-related readings.
Newsroom Leadership
The Newsroom Leadership course will give you a better understanding of the behind-the-scenes aspects of the multimedia newsroom, including the differences between managing, leading and coaching, and how to do each successfully with your own staff.
During the course, you will learn:
- An understanding of journalism as a profession and what it means
- Expectations for today’s multimedia editor
- The difference between managing, leading and coaching, and how to do each in your newsroom
- How to coach various personalities simultaneously
- Best practices in recruitment, training and retention
- Best practices in newsroom communication and conflict resolution
- How to be more productive and better manage your time while serving as a leader in your newsroom
You will learn these aspects of newsroom leadership through informative lectures, weekly online discussions, leadership readings, and hearing from others currently in newsroom leadership positions.
The courses are $500 each with a $100 deposit due at the time of enrollment. College Media Association members or affiliate members receive a 10% discount.
Enrollment is open until Sept. 15, so the deadline is upon us. Anyone is eligible to enroll.
Register here for the Trauma Reporting course.
Register here for the Newsroom Leadership course.
I hope to “see” you soon in one of my online courses. I look forward to learning and sharing with you!
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