The Dutch Association of Journalists (NVJ) and the Association of Investigative Journalists (VVOJ) offer a variety of training courses, ranging from an introduction to Big Data, to interviewing techniques, to how to deal with unsafe situations. As digital media is turning the entire profession of journalism on its ear – from text creation to Big Data analysis – requests for further professional training are mounting. The VVOJ’s annual conference is a big event that everyone wants to attend. Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the VVOJ has been offering online training courses – these are always fully booked.
Some media organisations have an “in-house academy” of their own. This is the case of NPO, NRC Handelsblad, DPG Media, Investico, and FTM. At the public broadcaster’s, a training budget is made available to in-house employees but not to freelancers. NRC Handelsblad has its “NRC Academy”, with training courses run by internal and external instructors. As part of a talent programme, young journalists are trained and coached in the profession. Investico also runs a talent programme, which trains and coaches young journalists: “the masterclass”. FTM has a monthly knowledge session about topics such as data analysis or narrative techniques.
At the regional level, training courses are co-organised with students of university campuses, such as the school for journalism in Tilburg, regional public broadcasters, and regional newspapers. Other news media such as nu.nl offer more limited training options, such as less-frequent internal or external workshops or training sessions at the editorial level. The BNR Nieuwsradio journalist even said that there was no time at all for training, as working for radio meant being willing to pull out all the stops.
According to our interviewees, staff training requires time and money, both of which are scarce in newsrooms. Most editors-in-chief (who are in charge of approving any training course) are willing to support their journalists, but overall, possibilities are limited.
