Journalism education in Australia is set for a shakeup with the launch today of the Digital News Academy by tech giant Google and major media publisher News Corp.
The partners plan to put 750 reporters and editors through the nine-month program in the first three years, including journalists from ACM's national network of regional newspapers.
Students will have the opportunity to develop cutting-edge digital news skills, such as immersive storytelling techniques and data journalism, Google's director of news partnerships for the Asia-Pacific Kate Beddoe said in a statement.
ACM, publisher of this masthead, welcomed the Academy's focus on building capacity in regional news media to bring the very best coverage of the issues, events and people that matter to Australia's rural areas.
"The Digital News Academy is an exciting prospect for Australian journalism," ACM managing director Tony Kendall said.
"It can provide a world-class learning environment for reporters and editors to develop the digital skills for the news of the future, which is especially crucial for our regional audiences."
The Academy, which has been developed with Melbourne Business School, will begin classes on March 28.
