American Press Institute Announces "Transformation Tour"

NEW TRAINING PROGRAM FOCUSES ON GAME-CHANGING STRATEGIES FOR NEWSPAPER EXECUTIVES AND MANAGERS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH POYNTER

ARLINGTON, Va., Aug. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The "Transformation Tour," presented by the American Press Institute with The Poynter Institute, kicks off this September to provide game-changing strategies for newspaper leaders to grow audience, develop content and drive revenue.

Pioneers and practitioners of the newspaper industry – including Clark Gilbert of the Deseret News in Salt Lake City, Chuck Peters of The Gazette Co. in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Christian A. Hendricks of The McClatchy Co. in Sacramento as the first three presenters – are leading this series of intensive workshops, which run from September through April 2013. The workshops focus on seven topics critical to the success of the newspaper industry, with the first two topics in the series being offered in Salt Lake City and Washington, D.C. In an effort to make the workshops easily accessible to participants, e-learning modules will be created for each topic, including videotaped sections from each session.

"We are delighted to launch the Transformation Tour, which is designed to help participants develop new strategies for sustaining the business of journalism," said Mark Newhouse, chairman of the American Press Institute Board of Trustees. "This interactive format enables the industry's best and brightest to share insights with their colleagues throughout the country, and showcases the methods and models showing the most promise."

Fall 2012 workshops are aimed at managers and executives, and address content strategies, business models and communities. The Transformation Tour continues in 2013 with four workshops centered on digital products – selling, mobilizing, growing audience and pricing strategies. Each workshop is offered twice to accommodate the busy schedules of newspaper executives and professionals.

"In this uniquely collaborative environment, newspaper professionals can discuss and dissect new approaches for the challenges we are seeing today," said Caroline H. Little, president and CEO of the American Press Institute. "We encourage newspapers to take a bold and active role in transforming their organizations – and the industry – by sending teams to participate in the Transformation Tour."

"The Poynter Institute is working with the American Press Institute to help create effective teaching for the in-person sessions," said Karen Dunlap, president of Poynter. "We will also develop online training modules that will be available at a new American Press Institute e-learning section of Poynter News University."

More details about The Transformation Tour are available at www.americanpressinstitute.org.

About American Press Institute

Headquartered in Arlington, Va., at the Newspaper Association of America, the American Press Institute advocates the value of newspaper media and all news media, and the value of independent journalism as a cornerstone of democracy. The merger of the American Press Institute and the NAA Foundation, finalized on Feb. 6, 2012, combines the strengths of both organizations to provide advanced training and best practices for and on behalf of leaders in the newspaper industry.

About The Poynter Institute

The Poynter Institute is one of the nation's top schools for professional journalists and news media leaders, as well as future journalists and journalism teachers. Poynter offers training throughout the year in the areas of online and multimedia, leadership and management, reporting, writing and editing, TV and radio, ethics and diversity, journalism education and visual journalism. Poynter's News University (www.newsu.org) offers journalism training to the public through more than 300 interactive modules and other forms of e-learning to more than 220,000 registered users. Poynter's website (www.poynter.org) is the dominant provider of journalism news, with a focus on business analysis and the opportunities and implications of technology.

CONTACT:
Marina Hendricks                                                                                          
Director of Communications
American Press Institute
(571) 366-1009
[email protected]
www.americanpressinstitute.org

Howard Finberg
Director of Training Partnerships and Alliances
The Poynter Institute
(727) 821-9494
[email protected]
www.poynter.org

SOURCE The Poynter Institute