Education
Since we launched in 2015, the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism has offered a range of workshops and trainings in basic to more advanced journalism skills, including the following programs that we offer from time-to-time:
-Community Journalism 101 Workshops. A series of free, low-barrier, two-hour journalism trainings, open to community members with little or no reporting experience. Participants learn how to interview people, do background research, write in basic Associated Press style, and cover a range of issues.
-Investigative Reporting Workshop. A three-hour workshop aimed at people with some journalism experience—or related experience in other media fields. BINJ staff take attendees through the steps needed to start producing investigative reporting on a shoestring budget. Can be tailored to the needs of specific media organizations. Topics covered include developing sources, interviewing subjects, research skills, data management, building a reporting team, and much more.
-Journalism Research Methods Workshop. This workshop can be three- to eight-hours long depending on the needs of attendees. It is aimed at academic departments interested in teaching college students—particularly graduate students—how to deploy investigative journalism research methods in the field. Heavy emphasis on developing expertise in particular study areas through a regular news diet, interviewing skills, and an detailed review of how journalists approach research—with a special focus on comparing investigative research methods with traditional academic quantitative and qualitative research methods. BINJ staff can also modify the workshop for groups of learners outside the academy.
For more information and/or to ask BINJ to schedule a journalism training, email us at info@binj.news.
Advocacy
In an era when the journalism industry looks to be in terminal collapse, the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism team has always understood that contemporary journalists have to be willing stick up for the institution of journalism in the interest of democracy. As such, we have engaged in the following advocacy work on behalf of our corner of the news sector:
-Alliance of Nonprofit News Outlets (ANNO). BINJ is the founding member-outlet of this feisty national trade association—joined by dozens of our fellow nonprofit news groups from coast-to-coast.
-Mass Independent News Outlet List (MINOL). BINJ also founded a statewide communications network serving 20 indy press organizations in Massachusetts—which also acts as a syndication channel for our MassWire news service and for work from other participating publications.
-BINJ Legislative Project. As the news organization that spearheaded the grassroots effort that led to the passage of the Mass Journalism Commission law in 2021, we remain active in state and national politics relating to the journalism industry.
For more information about BINJ advocacy work, contact us at info@binj.news.
Past work
Besides community events that we promote and participate in, like the pop-up newsrooms we have organized around specific topics, BINJ has hosted several workshops teaching the tools of the trade to community members, media professionals, and journalism students alike. Some of our education efforts, along with our internship program, have been done independently, while others have been in coordination with PEG access centers, colleges, and other local institutions. In addition to our regular Journalism 101 and Investigative Reporting workshops (see above), past courses include:
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How to Pitch Your Story!
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Jailbreak Conference for Journalists and Technologists (2018)
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How to Get Press for Peace and Progressive Issues
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Make FOIA Work (w/ Emerson College & Muckrock)
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Careers in the Independent Media (Bunker Hill Community College)
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Understanding Net Neutrality and the Future of Our Internet (MATV)
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FIGHT New Filmmakers Workshop
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Digital Media and Popular Uprisings