The Fresno NewsTrain workshop, facilitated by the News Leaders Association, provides affordable, digital training for newsroom editors and managers, reporters, producers, copy editors and visual journalists working on all platforms.

The Fresno NewsTrain was originally scheduled for 2020 until the pandemic forced its rescheduling first to March 2022, and now to April 22-23, 2022. Fresno will be one of four host cities for the national touring workshop, NewsTrain, in 2022.

Register by March 22 to get the early-bird rate of $75 for two days of training. Digital skills that will be taught include data, video, social, mobile, podcasting, audience and verification. A news-leadership track will include instruction in how newsrooms can do more enterprise reporting and bring in more audience revenue.

The agenda includes descriptions of these interactive sessions, which were requested by a host committee of journalists led by Fresno State. These sessions will be taught by marquee journalists:

  • Developing a data mindset to improve stories every day, with Aaron Mendelson of KPCC, part of Southern California Public Radio.
  • Storytelling on small screens: making smart choices for mobile audiences, with Fernando Hurtado of NBCUniversal.
  • Shooting smarter video with your smartphone, with Hurtado.
  • Using social media as powerful reporting tools, with Sona Patel of The New York Times.
  • Becoming a verification ninja, with Patel.
  • So, you think you have an idea for a podcast? with Joanne Griffith of APM Studios.
  • How to reach audiences who don’t trust you, with Tony Marcano of KPCC.
  • Using audience analytics to inform and improve your journalism, with Danny Gawlowski of The Seattle Times.
  • Focus your journalism to drive digital subscriptions or memberships, with Gawlowski.
  • How to do more enterprise reporting while still feeding the daily beast, with Amy Chance of The Sacramento Bee. 

Along with the early-bird rate of $75 — a $20 savings — the News Leaders Association (NLA) will offer these incentives to NewsTrain registrants:

  • For a group of 10 or more from one organization, $70 registration for each person through March 22. Email for details.
  • For students, free membership in NLA, and for professional journalists, half-price membership in NLA, for one year.
  • For NLA members, $75 registration after March 22.

To ensure participants’ safety, NewsTrain will follow all University COVID-19 protocols at the time of the event.

Since 2003, NewsTrain has brought affordable training close to home, serving 7,840 journalists in all 50 states and three Canadian provinces.

NewsTrain’s tuition remains low because it relies on generous donations to cover half its costs. Donors can include a note on the payment page to direct their tax-deductible donations to NewsTrain.

#FresnoNewsTrain will be the 95th such workshop sponsored by News Leaders Association or a predecessor organization, Associated Press Media Editors (APME). In 2019, APME merged with the American Society of News Editors (ASNE) to create News Leaders Association, the nation’s largest nonprofit organization of newsroom leaders.

The association empowers journalists at all levels with the training, support and networks they need to lead and transform diverse, sustainable newsrooms. It fosters the highest standards of trustworthy journalism, advocates for a free and independent press and nurtures the next generation of news leaders.

For additional information, contact NewsTrain project director Linda Austin.