Newspaper & Mailroom

Poynter and McClatchy Launch Innovative Training Initiative

Monday 11. March 2013 - The Poynter Institute, an international leader in journalism education, has announced it will partner with The McClatchy Company, the country's third-largest newspaper publisher, on an innovative, multi-year training program that aims to deliver more training to more employees.

Poynter will work closely with McClatchy leaders to conduct training assessments and identify specific needs and offer training opportunities that support the company’s strategic goals overall.
“This is a model for professional development in a news organization even as it adjusts to economic challenges. We are finding wa
ys to provide the shared learning needed during rapid change,” said Karen Dunlap, Poynter President. “I’m pleased to work with The McClatchy Company, an industry leader.”
This custom program is built on the full range of Poynter’s teaching expertise. Poynter faculty and industry experts will lead in-person workshops, online seminars and Webinars, and tailored certificate programs drawn from Poynter’s extensive e-learning course list will target specific skills gaps. Poynter also will work with McClatchy’s in-house trainers to help them develop additional programs during this multi-year program. Training will be developed for both the editorial and sales staffs of McClatchy’s 30 print and online organizations.
“Nothing is more important than effective training at a time when our newsrooms and sales forces are going in many new directions, demanding all sorts of new skills,” said Anders Gyllenhaal, McClatchy’s vice president of news. “We’re delighted to be working with the Poynter Institute, which knows no match in journalism training. We believe this will be an important new part of how we move forward.”
Poynter also will develop a special McClatchy training website on its e?learning platform, NewsU (www.newsu.org). This site will host all of McClatchy’s e-learning programs and use NewsU technology to conduct assessments that will measure the value of the training program.
“We see this initiative as an opportunity to help McClatchy build upon its own training efforts with the richness of Poynter’s teaching,” said Howard Finberg, Poynter’s director of training partnerships and alliances. “The program is unique for its depth of training, the ability to deliver teaching on-site and online, and for the variety of topics we can offer based on a company’s specific needs.”