Google News Lab Helps Journalists Extend Their Skills

With all the free digital publishing tools on the web today, virtually anyone can become a journalist. But as we have seen with the influx of fake news sites and unreliable sources popping up daily, it’s becoming increasingly important for reporters posting to the web to hone their writing and reporting skills to provide the most credible news possible.

To help combat some of these issues, Google News Lab has recently launched a series of online programs to help journalists sharpen their skills and gain more knowledge towards journalism, all on their own time.

Google and its News Lab division have worked with Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, Poynter Institute for Media Studies, and Journalism and Media Studies Centre at The University of Hong Kong to develop these resources.

Some of the programs offer courses in verification, fact-checking, and immersive storytelling. Skills like these are perfect for journalists to learn to effectively write and produce content for their websites and blogs. Journalists, or in this case, students, will receive a certificate from the Knight Center upon completion of the course.

Google will collaborate with the Knight Foundation, the American Press Institute, and the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, to support e-learning and monthly training workshop opportunities on Poynter’s NewsU training platform. They will also include webinars and self paced courses.

If students complete all the courses at Hong Kong University, they will earn a certificate of completion. Once completed, the students/journalists will then gain a chance to write for the Journalism and Media Studies Centre at the University of Hong Kong’s website. This will allow students to dive right into the journalism experience and serve as a nice addition to their resumés.

What do you think about Google providing the world of journalism with some ways to learn and further their skills in their fields? Let us know in the comments below!