Newmark J-School’s new online program for Entrepreneurial Journalism Creators helps independent journalists develop newsletters, podcasts, local sites, and other niche news products serving their audiences. 

The new 100-day certificate program runs online with a cohort of creative thinkers from around the world building their own microventures. Our goal is to provide a springboard for their ideas. Participants, whether independent or employed at media companies, will learn to identify and build audiences. They will also craft business models by analyzing market needs and revenue opportunities. 

The curriculum allows for mostly asynchronous learning so that participants in any timezone — who may also have personal or professional obligations that require schedule flexibility — can proceed at their own pace. The program  relies on a variety of online learning methods including workshops, readings, videos, coaching sessions, case studies, projects and engaging live discussions that are recorded for the benefit of those who need to watch them on their own time. 

The all-star instructional team features innovators with expertise in journalism, product development, community engagement, marketing, revenue expansion, and sustainability. Participants will also benefit from the experience of a graduate journalism school that created the nation’s first master’s degree and advanced certificate programs in entrepreneurial journalism in 2010, and over the course of a decade, served 130 journalism entrepreneurs from 37 countries.

We need more journalism entrepreneurs. We need more of them to come from and cater to underrepresented communities, and we need them to be able to earn a living through their ventures. We see an opportunity to shape, support, and serve this emerging, diverse group of “armies of one” by helping them with the complex process of carving out a sustainable niche for their product. 

Join us in helping reshape the next generation of journalism entrepreneurship.

You can read about our program on Nieman Lab and Poynter and read about Why We Launched the Program on our Medium page.

OUTCOMES

Those who successfully complete the program will learn to:

1. Understand market needs and identify their niche by interviewing community members and stakeholders, and conducting market research. Graduates will be able to reflect on the desirability and feasibility of product ideas to assess their potential viability.
   

2. Serve and grow an audience. Graduates will know how to apply tactics to build a product, grow a following, to market a project beyond its initial user base, and to engage with their community on an ongoing basis. 
   

3. Develop a revenue portfolio by analyzing and testing potential monetization strategies for their new product or initiative. Graduates will also learn to identify tools and platforms for serving a community through  newsletters, podcasts, and digital events or platforms.

4. Sharpen survival skills like sales and negotiation techniques, cultural competency, collaboration skills, personal finance and self-care and resiliency. Graduates will also refine their ability to present their product ideas clearly and persuasively.