Training Resources
Online Media Campus Webinars

Online Media Campus provides high-quality webinars that help media professionals develop new job skills without leaving their offices.  With at least two new webinars  a month and archived webinars avaible, Online Media Campus offers many resources to journalists  and gives you the opportunity to participate at any time. 

As a member of NCPA, you can take the trainings for free with the code: NCtraining 

Upcoming webinars: 

How to Run an Effective Sales Call Every Time!

Business News as an Everyday Beat 

6 Sales Tactics You Need to Do in 2023

For archived trainings, visit https://onlinemediacampus.com/

Poynter News University

Poynter offers news, trainings, guidance on ethics & leadership, fact-checking, and media literacy resources to journalists. Explore 100+ interactive journalism courses and join the international community of 150,000+ professionals, educators and students. 

Subscribe to Poynter's Weekly Training Digest, which contains the newest and most relevant professional development opportunities- including journalism industry job postings and panels. 

NCPA members can also receive custom training on a variety of topics that include ethics and leadership, craft of journalism, power and sexual harrassment, and race and equity. 

 

North Carolina Humanities

Each year North Carolina Humanities connects hundreds of North Carolinians through a combination of signature programs, grants, and partnerships.

The programs, which are available and offered statewide, are designed to bring North Carolinians together to have shared experiences around the humanities and dialogue amongst themselves. The grants are designed to solicit and respond to local needs and interests. 

The resulting conversations foster understanding and deepen human connections that can strengthen our statewide community. 

Check out the programs, grants, and resources here. 

Local News Lab

The Local News Lab is dedicated to creative experiments in journalism sustainability. We believe the future of local news depends on creating new kinds of collaboration between journalists, newsrooms, and communities. The lab is a project of Democracy fund. 

See the latest from the Lab. 

Better News

Better News is a project of the American Press Institute and the Knight-Lenfest Newsroom Initiative, funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

It is designed to serve three purposes: (1) to collect, curate and operate as a central repository of best practices in the craft of journalism and the challenge of journalism sustainability; (2) to provide strategic guidance on the most important issues facing news organizations, particularly local, regional and metropolitan newspapers; and (3) to share important lessons from participants of the Knight-Lenfest Newsroom Initiative.

There’s no shortage of reporting out there — much of it excellent — on the craft of journalism and the challenge of journalism sustainability. And you can learn a great deal from such reporting: Tips, tools, and tactics to make better products, grow audience, generate revenue, or tell better stories. But there are two problems we hear from folks in the news business: (1) Unless you’re actively looking (and even if you are), great resources can be difficult to find. And more importantly (2) without strategic framework, these tips become noise — more things to try, more random and uncoordinated “stuff.”

Subscribe to the Better News newsletter to stay up to date with fresh resources, insights, and case studies. 

Writing/Editing
Carefully screen columns by public officials How will the Legislature deal with a record budget surplus, and what will it mean for taxpayer pocketbooks? Are there implications for public safety with the proposal to legalize marijuana? Which …
Sustaining Rural Journalism Feb 2023 This month’s column is mainly from someone else, because it illustrates a serious problem facing rural newspapers: How do they manage increasingly contentious public discourse and still …
Prime time to take inventory of your newsmakers Here’s a periodic action item for every newspaper: The exercise can be quite revealing in evaluating how you are connecting with various audiences. It is even more important in today’s …
Management
YAWN: Tiresome Newspaper Arguments It's been more than two years since I received my last paycheck from a newspaper company. In that time, I've had the opportunity to advocate for local newspapers that remain Relevant to their …
Into the Issues This column is titled “Into the Issues” because it began as an effort to help community newspapers explore issues that affected their communities, sometimes from afar. It has evolved to …
Into the Issues Almost a year ago, this column urged community newspapers to tell their readers the truth about the 2020 presidential election — that it was fairly held — to debunk the falsehoods …
Sales/marketing
What makes an ad campaign? Amanda told me about taking over the advertising account of a business which had been placing ads in her paper for a long time. “In our first meeting, the owner said he had been running what he …
Do you know where your fire extinguishers are? We all want to take care of our advertisers and coworkers. Well, there’s no better way to do that than to help them stay safe in the workplace. There are some simple things we can do to …
If it’s 10:08, it must be a watch ad Legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden once said, “It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.”  That’s certainly true in …
Design
Typefaces to toss! Some typefaces are just downright strange. Like Curlz. I just can’t bring myself to believe that someone was serious about designing that one.
Google plans ad-blocking feature for Chrome browser Alphabet Inc.’s Google is planning to introduce an ad-blocking feature in the mobile and desktop versions of its popular Chrome web browser, according to people familiar with the …
25 rules for good design I’m always amused—and a bit disappointed—when someone tells me “I just love breaking the rules” of design. More often than not, that person isn’t breaking any …
Legal Resources
Legal/Legislative
 “As Promptly as Possible”: When does a public records delay become a de facto denial? If you make public records requests in North Carolina, you are undoubtedly familiar with N.C. Gen. Stat. § 132-6(a), which requires a public body to furnish responsive records “as promptly …
New procedure for requesting NC law enforcement recordings – for now If you’re a journalist who has ever sought police body camera or dashboard camera recordings, you probably used the forms provided by the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts …
First for a Reason: What is Section 230? Why does it matter to journalists? You may have heard the term “Section 230” thrown about recently. This section of the federal Communications Decency Act of 1996 has been around for more than 25 years, but it is getting …

 Know your rights. Know your NC Media Law. Click below to view the online resource the professionals use; the NC Media Law Handbook. Continuous updates make this the most valuable legal resource for reporters, editors, and practioners.
Open Government Guides
Open Meetings for Local Government
NC Open Government Guide
Public Records in North Carolina
Legal Fine Print

 A legal guide for newspaper advertising

A North Carolina Media Law Primer