View a complete list of CNJO's member organizations at CNJO.org/members



CNJO Chairman Brant Houston
(Photo by Tony Overman, National Press Photographers Association)
CNJO Chairman Brant Houston and Coordinator Ted Gest at the August 2006 Council meeting in San Francisco.

CNJO members advocate strategic professional training

The digital revolution is not only transforming journalism but also calling on journalists to reinvent themselves. To do that, journalists, their news and professional organizations and journalism and mass communication programs need to rouse themselves, without delay, to undertake sophisticated, strategic, solution-oriented training.

Professional development has to be viewed not as a frill to be cut from newsroom budgets at the first sign of an economic downturn but as an investment that pays dividends in more engaging journalism and more adaptive news organizations. The traditional audience members for journalists are becoming producers as well as consumers of news. The individual news media — whether newspaper, magazine, radio or television — are evolving into innovative multimedia providers of interactive maps and other products that improve the quality of the news.

These new realities demand that educators and professionals alike give a higher priority to training for journalists, collaborate with one another on training and bring training closer to newsrooms. A recent study of 2,000 news people in all media indicated that 90% of journalists and news executives want more training. But only 30% of the nation's newsrooms increased training in the past five years. More than twice as many newsrooms stood still or cut training.

Still, there are hopeful signs. The recently published “News Improved” shows how newsrooms can remake themselves. The Learning Newsroom, journalismtraining.org, Tomorrow’s Workforce, NewsTrain, the News University and the Committee of Concerned Journalists' Traveling Curriculum are forces for progress. We call on all those who care about the role of journalism in educating the citizens of a democracy to embrace change and welcome strategic professional training in a way that it has never been welcomed before.

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication
American Society of Business Publications Editors
Asian American Journalists Association
Associated Press Managing Editors
Casey Journalism Center on Children and Families
Criminal Justice Journalist
Dart Center For Journalism and Trauma
Education writers Association
Investigative Reporters and Editors
Journalism Education Association
Military Reporters and Editors
National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association
National Press Photographers Association
Society of Environmental Journalists
Society of News Design
Society of Professional Journalists