Many journalists across Mexico face a variety of daily threats and dangers. How can they do their job as effectively and safely as possible in the challenging and hostile environment created by the drug wars? To respond to these difficult situations, the recently created North American chapter of the International News Safety Institute (INSI) is offering its first online course for Mexican journalists, in collaboration with the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas and the Mexico City based network of reporters and editors, Periodistas de a Pié. Read more »

The Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas is collaborating with the Virtual Journalism Learning Center (VJLC) to offer a free course in Spanish on “How to Cover Natural Disasters and Crises,” on Saturday, Feb. 11 from 9:30 a.m. (PST) – 12:00 p.m (PST). The training session is conducted entirely in VJLC’s virtual facility in Second Life. The training focuses on helping journalists learn the basic strategies and decision-making skills needed to cover a natural disaster or crisis situation (flood, earthquake, health pandemic, etc.). Specific newsgathering, reporting and storytelling techniques will be covered. Argentinean journalist Sandra Crucianelli will be teaching the three-hour course. Read more »

Amy Webb didn’t have to look far for an example of how Spark Camp, an "un-conference" she helps organize that pulls disparate people together for an informal exchange of ideas and problem solving. Co-hosted by the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas and the School of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin, Spark Camp attracted an impressive variety of talented people to spend three days in January — in Austin — to ruminate on the crossroads of data and online journalism. Read more »

Are you looking to have a better understanding of graphics and how to visualize information? The Knight Center has a course for you. The course, “Introduction to Infographics and Visualization for Journalists,” will be taught in Spanish beginning January 30 and ending March 11, 2012 through the distance learning platform of the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas. Read more »

Online courses and webinars, workshops, conferences, e-books, a news blog and direct assistance to journalists' organizations have been offered by the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas during 2011. Thousands of journalists from all Latin American countries and most of the Caribbean have benefited from this wide variety of programs. Read more »

Social media has become a crucial element in the journalist’s daily work today. Do you know how to set up an account? How do you maximize your time when using social media? How can you engage with the community through social media channels? Robert Quigley can help journalists answer these questions and more with his upcoming distance learning course, “Social Media for Journalists” which is being offered for a second time in English by the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas. Read more »

Due to a great demand for the first webinar scheduled to Friday, Dec. 9, another webinar has been organized by the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, the Mexican journalists network Red de Periodistas de a Pie, and the International Center for Journalists on "Strategies to Reduce Risks When Covering Organized Crime and Violence." The second webinar will be offered at 9:00 a.m. (Mexico City/Austin time) on Friday, Dec. 16th. Read more »

Interested in using spreadsheets and data downloaded from the Internet in your reporting? Sign up now for the latest webinar from the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas. The online seminar, "Using Spreadsheets to do High-Impact Stories," will be offered in Spanish at 10 a.m. (Austin time) on Tuesday, Nov. 15. Read more »

Journalists today have unprecedented access to the communities they cover. Savvy journalists use a growing kit of tools and techniques to take advantage of this situation. To help others connect with the reporting potential behind these new technologies the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas is offering a new course in English, "Social Media Optimization," on how journalists can maximize social media in their jobs. The course will be taught in English a last from Oct. 31 to Nov. 27, 2011. Registration is open until Oct. 19 and costs $60. Read more »

The Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas recently released two digital books in Spanish, "Ethical Guidelines for Online Journalism," originally published in English by the Poynter Institute, and "10 Best Practices for Social Media," by James Hohmann and the American Society of News Editors. The Spanish versions were translated and introduced by Colombian journalist Guillermo Franco. Both e-books are available for free download as PDFs in the Knight Center Digital Library. Read more »

Thinking visually is indispensable for the future of journalism, according to Spanish journalist Alberto Cairo. Cairo's approach to visual storytelling is the theme of the course “Intro to Infographics and Visualization for Journalists,” presented in Portuguese from Oct. 24 through Dec. 4. The Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas' distance learning platform will host the course. Participants can register until Oct. 12. Read more »

Registration is now closed for the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas' new webinar, "7 Steps to Creating a Sustainable Entrepreneurial Journalism Project." The event will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 12 from 12-2 p.m. (CST, Austin, TX. Read more »

The course, “Introduction to Infographics and Visualization for Journalists will be taught in Spanish beginning October 10 and ending November 20, 2011 through the distance learning platform of the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas.here. Read more »

Registration is now closed.

Digital technology has transformed traditional newsrooms and created new challenges for editors who now have to handle both traditional and new media. These new challenges will be the focus of a two-hour web seminar hosted by the Knight Center on Tuesday, Sept. 27, with distinguished Colombian journalist María Teresa Ronderos. Read more »

After gathering Sept. 8-10 for the 9th Austin Forum on Journalism in the Americas, more than 50 journalists and experts from 20 countries throughout Latin America and the Caribbean have decided to look at ways to collaborate across countries, covering immigration in a more humanizing, balanced way, recognizing that immigration is a regional issue that is about more than just reporting on people crossing borders with or without papers: immigration coverage means stories need to be written about the migrants themselves, families, historical explanations for migration, investigations into government policies, health issues, economic and social factors, education, housing and myriad other components that make up migration. Read more »

The Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas is hosting an innovative, all-digital photo exhibit and panel discussion on covering migration in the Americas as part of the 2011 Austin Forum on Journalism in the Americas. Read more »

The Knight Center recently completed the online course "Social Networks for Editors." Journalist Robert Quigley, ex-editor for social media at the Austin-American Statesman, taught the course to 25 journalists from nine countries from July 18 to Aug. 28. Quigley recently began teaching at the University of Texas at Austin. Read more »

The Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas concluded the Spanish language course "Editors in the Age of the Internet." led by Colombian journalist María Teresa Ronderos. The online course was in session from Jul. 11 to Aug. 21, 2011, and attended by 35 editors from 14 Latin American Countries. Read more »

Numbers are our friends. That’s the mantra that Sandra Crucianelli is spreading with the Knight Center course, “Math for Journalists.” The course, which will run from September 12-October 16, 2011, is being offered in Spanish for the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas. Read more »

Rapid changes brought on by the digital age have created new ethical challenges that will be discussed in a Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas webinar on Aug. 16 from 12–2p.m. (CDT). Registration is open. Read more »

Sandra Crucianelli believes that journalists who use social media need to do a better job of interacting with their readers instead of acting like company spokespersons. “It’s been proven that people prefer to talk with people not brands,” said the Argentinian reporter and editor who will teach the webinar “The Journalist’s Role with Social Media. Read more »

E-books published by the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas in English, Spanish and Portuguese have already been downloaded nearly 200,000 times, read and shared by thousands of journalists, journalism students and professors all over the Western hemisphere. Read more »

The application period has closed.

Alberto Cairo wants to change the way journalists look at infographics. “Part of the problem is that print journalists believe that it is the job of computer graphics designers and artists only, while designers and artists believe that a traditional journalist will never be able to create good graphics,” he says. “Both groups are wrong. Infographics is not an art, but rather a means of visual communication and its rules can be learned with relative ease.” Read more »

Paola Carvalho decided to take several hours away from her daily work in the newsroom at Diários Associados to participate in the online course “Journalism 2.0," offered by the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas. The result of this “break” to study was a report that won a Sebrae Journalism Prize, one of Brazil's most prestigious awards for economic reporting. Read more »

Is the business of illegal drugs adequately covered by the media?
 Is it possible to report on drug trafficking, despite the threat to journalists? 
These are some of the questions that journalists are tackling in the Knight Center’s online course, “The Coverage of Drug Trafficking.” Read more »

With more than 800 attendees registered, the 6th International Congress for Investigative Journalism held June 30-July 2 and hosted by the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (ABRAJI in Portuguese), was the largest yet. More than half of the participants were journalists from throughout Brazil who came to the conference in São Paulo to help make it one of the country's top such events. Read more »

"Passionate" and "visionary" are the words Brant Houston used to describe Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas founder and director Rosental Calmon Alves, who was honored during an homage at the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism's 6th International Congress for Investigative Journalism, on July 1. Read more »