APME NewsTrain offers digital journalism training

Linda Austin, project director of APME’s NewsTrain

MTSU hosted the annual Associated Press Media Editors (APME) NewsTrain journalism conference in the Student Union Ballroom on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. Spearheaded by Val Hoeppner, director of the Center for Innovation in Media, the event offered affordable digital training for journalists, journalism educators and journalism students with diverse backgrounds.

The workshop offered two full days of training to the over 100 attendees. Professionals from around the United States taught sessions on digital storytelling, utilizing social media as powerful reporting tools, shooting shareable smartphone video and maximizing smartphone usage for news gathering.

“This is the best hands-on collection of practical sessions with knowledgeable ‘in-the-field instructions’ I’ve experienced,” said reporter Kelly Shiers.

Left to right: Emma Carew Grovum, assistant managing editor at The Daily Beast; Val Hoeppner, director of the MTSU Center for Innovation in Media; and Tony Gonzalez, enterprise reporter for Nashville Public Radio.

APME NewsTrain is a national touring workshop that has served journalists in their own cities since 2003. Programs are designed to provide training in the digital skills, knowledge and information needed in a rapidly changing media setting, at an affordable cost. NewsTrain’s attendees include frontline editors, department heads, senior editors, reporters, copy editors, visual journalists and online producers working on multiple platforms. College journalism professors and students also find NewsTrain programs valuable.