Via Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) in collaboration with the Poynter Institute for Media Studies is offering an e-learning class for writers. Here is the information:

REPORTING ACROSS CULTURES, WRITING ABOUT DIFFERENCES

This E-learning class is designed to help journalists in their coverage of different cultures, communities and individuals who are often missing or inaccurately portrayed in our news stories. Course runs April 5 to May 3, 2004. All participants must have an Internet connection and Internet explorer.

Sponsored by AAJA and News University, a project of The Poynter Institute for Media Studies and funded by the Knight Foundation.

Deadline is March 1, 2004.

To apply online, go here.

Testimonials:

“The readings were excellent and I have put them in a binder and will refer back to them again and again. The instructor was excellent and gave me some good tips about reporting. The E-mail function on the site allowed me to interact with other reporters.”

“Having never taken an E-learning course before, I liked the fact that I could log on to the course whenever and wherever I wanted.”

About the Asian American Journalists Association

The Asian American Journalists Association is a national, non-profit educational association based in San Francisco with 2,000 members. Asian American journalists founded AAJA to encourage young Asian Pacific Americans to enter the ranks of journalism, to work for fair and accurate coverage of Asian Pacific Americans, and to increase the number of Asian/Pacific Americans and news managers in the industry. For more information, visit www.aaja.org or call 415-346-2051.

Via Mediabistro.com and Editor&Publisher

“When you say a story is going to be published, it raises it to a whole different level.”

I think NYU‘s journalism program has the right attitude. It recognizes that students in its program will have a tough time if they don't have any experience writing for newspapers in the real world. Even working for a student paper doesn't appear to be enough, not that is any less “real.”

Well, with Live Wire, NYU's news service, articles by student writers actually get played out in publications across the country. Apparently Columbia University and Northwestern University both have a student wire service similar to NYU's.

“Christy Slewinski, a specialty sections editor at the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel who subscribes to Live Wire, was especially interested in the option to offer story ideas and have students write them. “

Sure, you won't get paid for it, but it's all about having a clutch of clips when you graduate. It's one way to avoid becoming a statistic in a tough job market.

I wonder if something like this could be established for student photojournalists.

Continuing our discussion of photojournalism and war, here are two links that you should check out – a wonderful article by J. D. Lasica and a page that lists links to digital photojournalism during war time.

“Great storytelling requires time — time to understand what's going on, time to spend with your subject, not at the laptop transmitting but really making great pictures. We're still hindered by the production toolsets that are available. In the next few years we'll see a dramatic improvement in the way people can put stories together and package materials.” — Brian Storm, vice president of news and editorial photography at Corbis

Morningchai.com, a site targeted to the Ismaili Community, is looking for freelancers and students to write for them.  Journalists looking to establish themselves by having their work published will be considered first. However, morningchai.com is open to ideas on just about anything as long as it relates to the Ismaili Community.
 
The community is largely established in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, New York, Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Seattle. Our goal is to profile Ismaili high achievers – from 8 to 80 – as well as provide links to our readers to Ismaili's in the mainstream news.
 
If interested, please contact morningchai.com publisher Zahir Karim

Via Jose Azel

The daily operations at Aurora involve working with photographs taken by some of the best photojournalists in the world and marketing them to potential buyers. At one end of the process, Aurora's personnel interact with world-reknowned professional photographers to stay abreast of projects and developments while incorporating new material into Aurora's archive. At the other end, they work with national and international clients, both editorial and commercial, to carry out requests and fulfill research projects.

A large amount of material enters the agency as physical media which is scanned and archived in our database. Once the images are scanned, Aurora's workflow is almost entirely digital. Candidates must have strong computer skills, be able to multi-task in a high-pace environment and love photography.

The internship would afford a great opportunity for those pursuing a career in photojournalism, photography, or picture editing. Our internships are available year round and flexible to the interns' needs. It is a paid internship. Interested applicants should submit resume, references, and cover letter to jazel@auroraphotos.com . Portfolios accepted but not required. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.

Several years ago, for about three months I worked at Aurora as an intern and it was indeed a great place to look at amazing and inspiring work all the time. It was a learning experience which has proved over time to be very valuable – I look back from where I am today, as a photo editor at ESPN.com and have to thank Jose and the rest of the gang for challenging my approach to photography. They will expect a lot from you too. If you are serious about photography – learning how the business aspect of it works in tandem with consistent creative output, this is a serious growth opportunity that is not to be missed.