Journalism Program Hosts SPJ Facebook Journalism Project Training

Facebook can help journalists find and track stories along with covering the news in fresh ways. Those were some of the topics covered by Digital Trainer Kerwin Speight during his presentation on March 26 to about fifty Journalism and other College of Professional Studies students at St. Augustine Hall. 

Mr. Speight, a former award winning TV news producer, is part of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) Facebook Journalism Project. SPJ sponsors the sessions as a reputable source to teach techniques about Facebook to journalists. The sessions are free for interested institutions.   

Mr. Speight showed students different Facebook tools and techniques for connecting with audiences as well as how to get metrics on what stories are being read. He also streamed the gathering of students live to Facebook to show them how easy it can be for journalists to bring news stories to consumers instantly. 

Assistant Professor Michael Rizzo, Director of the Journalism Program at CPS, arranged the session after hearing about it while speaking at the Excellence in Journalism conference in 2018.

“It’s one thing to know that Facebook has newsfeeds for people to see and read,” he said. “I wanted our students to be trained by a trustworthy journalism organization so they could know how reporters can properly use Facebook to inform people in a professional way.”

Senior Journalism major Dewayne Goforth said he learned lots of new things even if the 90 minute session was overwhelming at times.

“There’s a lot I’ve got to learn,” he added. “But it’s cool that you have these different ways to tell stories.”