South Africa: The Star aims to improve quality through training

Posted by Elena Perotti on October 20, 2006 at 2:40 PM

Johannesburg daily The Star recently activated a year-long training program for its staff, with the objective of improving the quality of the paper. The launch of this training program comes right after the re-evaluation after 10 years of the editorial production and content management system, and the decision to better integrate the print and online version of The Star. “The Star needs to ensure that it builds its reputation as the primary provider of news and views of its city” said editor Mary Elisabeth Barratt.

This extensive training program is reportedly financed with the support of a foreign-owned company and has three different levels of courses. All staff is to be trained in general areas such as: newspaper’s strategy, Internet searches and time management. The “basic” courses, available for all employees, are interdisciplinary and are tailored for the different editorial departments: they provide lessons like grammar and Photoshop.

The courses labeled “quality” are targeted for journalists who write narrative articles, opinions, and investigative pieces.

Source: Poynteronline

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