Venezuelan journalists can apply now for online course on electoral coverage

The Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas and the Carter Center (through the Program to Strengthen Journalism in Venezuela) are offering an online course in Spanish on electoral coverage, to be held May 12-June 9, 2012. The course, taught by the Peruvian journalist Jacqueline Fowks, is especially geared toward Venezuelan journalists who work inside the country, including regional correspondents for national outlets. Applications will be accepted through May 4.

The course is divided into several weekly modules that will contain audiovisual presentations and online resources. Participation in various exercises and debates, and the completion of coursework will also be required for the course. Those who satisfactorily complete the course will receive a certificate from the Knight Center.

Those Journalists that pass the online course will also be able to attend an in-person workshop that will be taught by Jacqueline Fowks in Maracaibo (Zulia) and Barcelona (Anzoátegui) during the second half of June.

Jacqueline Fowks is currently a collaborator for the newspaper El País (Spain) and the news site Opera Mundi (Brazil). She is also a journalism professor at the Catholic University of Peru. She was a contributor to IDL-Reporteros, the investigative journalism organization directed by Gustavo Gorriti.

This is the second time that the Carter Center’s Program for the Strengthening of Journalism and the Knight Center have combined efforts to offer support for Venezuelan journalists in election times. The first online course of its kind took place in June 2010, was instructed by the Colombian journalist María Teresa Ronderos, and ended with a workshop in Caracas. For more information regarding the Program to Strengthen Journalism in Venezuela please contact Griselda Colina at programaperiodistas@gmail.com

The Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas was founded by journalism professor Rosental Alves of the University of Texas at Austin in August 2002, and was made possible through a generous donation by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The Knight Center also receives contributions from other donors including the Open Society Foundations and the University of Texas. The principal objective of the Center is to aid Latin American and Caribbean journalists improve the quality of journalism in their respective countries.