With the rise of AI, disruption across the news industry, and shifting newsroom roles, how can journalists today take control of their careers?
Learn how to navigate change in the free online course, Explore Your Career River: Navigate Change in Today’s Media Ecosystem, organized by the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, from Oct. 6–Nov. 2, 2025.
Careers today rarely follow a straight line. In this four-week course, you’ll learn how the Career River framework can help you confidently follow your own compass, stop stressing about what you should do, and start discovering what you could do. You’ll map your own career so far as a river, uncover transferable skills, and hear from guest speakers about how this approach has shaped their journeys.
By the end of the course, you’ll be able to:
Assess your career to date as a river
Uncover transferable skills across roles
Tell a compelling career story
Apply a strategic approach to discovering your next move
This course is open to anyone—from reporters and freelancers to editors, product professionals, designers, and executives—looking to explore possibilities and approach career decisions with clarity.
Join the course for FREE and take the first step toward your next career move.
This course is asynchronous, meaning there are no required live events, and you can complete activities at your own pace throughout each week.
The material is organized into five modules covering various topics through videos, readings, and discussion forums:
Introduction Module – Welcome to Your River
This module introduces the Career River framework. Participants will learn how to view their careers as a river rather than a ladder, understanding how past experiences and shifting needs can guide future possibilities.
Module 1 – A New Framework for Professional Fulfillment
Participants will explore the limitations of the traditional career ladder and learn how the Career River approach offers flexibility. Key skills include identifying the right career model for your current stage and understanding how to leverage connections and navigate obstacles.
Module 2 – Map Your Career River
Participants will create a personal Career River map to see their career journey holistically. They’ll learn to identify transferable skills, shifting priorities, phases of flow and challenges, and patterns across their work experiences.
Module 3 – Tell a Compelling Career Story
Based on their map, participants will learn how to craft a career narrative. Skills include tailoring your message for different audiences, highlighting throughlines across roles, addressing setbacks, and presenting yourself effectively in networking and interviews.
Module 4 – Ride Your River to Your Next Role
Participants will learn strategies to approach career transitions with confidence. They’ll understand when to make a change, choose the right approach for their circumstances, and create actionable steps to advance toward the next phase of their career.
Register now for free and gain immediate access to the introduction module materials.
If you have any questions, please contact us at journalismcourses@austin.utexas.edu.
Bridget Thoreson is an award-winning journalist and the creator of MyCareerRiver.com, a platform for professionals navigating nonlinear careers.
Despite her college adviser’s warning that there were “no jobs in journalism,” Thoreson has worked as a journalist for almost 20 years. Since 2018, she has managed strategic editorial collaborations and audience and community engagement projects with more than 145 newsrooms, as a consultant with social impact firm Hearken and the first Director of Collaborations for the Institute for Nonprofit News, where she launched the 78-newsroom Rural News Network.
Thoreson got her start as a reporter and editor at a daily community newspaper in Wisconsin, where she won numerous reporting and editing awards, including the 2013 Media Award from the National Alliance on Mental Illness Wisconsin. She then moved to an audience development role at a national magazine publisher, where she built audiences across digital platforms for eight brands, including a new title launch. Currently she works as Hearken’s Chief Project Officer/Dream Wrangler, connecting journalism with civic information initiatives to support a healthy democracy.
Thoreson has a master’s degree in Integrated Marketing Communications from Northwestern University. She lives in the greater Chicago area with her wife, their three kids, guinea pigs and a toy poodle, and in any spare time she can find you’ll find her with her nose in a book.
