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Top Journalism Courses To Boost Your Writing Career
From Online Schemes to AI-Powered Journalism
Nicola Vaughan
April 2nd, 2025
In the 21st century, we’ve seen a shift towards online journalism, with a growing demand for digital reporting skills. It’s not just about the written word in 2025 -- journalists have many ways of reporting in the digital age, from podcasts to infographics and visual messaging.tv
The ever-changing journalism sector may seem like a daunting space for budding writers who are looking to break into the industry.
Online journalism schemes can help, offering a flexible, affordable way for people to get started. These courses can also be useful for journalists unsure how to get journalism experience online.
This article will give readers a thorough overview of online journalism schemes, introducing the top digital journalism training programs including beehiiv’s Media Collective, a unique opportunity for journalists who are looking to go independent with their work.
Table of Contents
What Are Online Journalism Schemes?
Online journalism schemes help prospective writers train in the art of journalism from the comfort of their own homes -- combining traditional journalist skills with digital reporting and online journalism.
How Digital Journalism Training Works
Digital journalism training typically involves learning how to combine traditional journalism skills such as researching, writing, and interviewing with digital tools such as social media, website CMS systems, multimedia editing, and SEO.
These training courses teach individuals how to report the news in a digital landscape, focusing on reporting the news accurately, while driving traffic and creating content that users can digest easily.
Who Should Consider Online Journalism Courses?
Online journalism courses are suitable for a wide range of people.
You could be an aspiring journalist who is confused about how to break into the industry, an established journalist who wants to diversify by learning more about the online journalism space, or perhaps even a content creator keen on putting your thoughts out there about certain topics.
Whatever your reasons and motivations, an online journalism course will teach you everything you need to know about creating powerful journalistic content online.
The Benefits of Remote Journalism Training
Remote journalism training has many benefits, including:
Flexibility: Remote journalism training allows participants to learn the art of journalism from their own homes at times that suit them. This can be particularly useful for budding journalists who have other commitments such as full-time work or young children.
Cost Saving: Online training courses can often be more affordable than in-person courses, negating overhead costs such as travel and office/classroom space.
Independent Learning: Studying online encourages participants to learn independently, a skill that will be vital in a journalism career.
The Best Online Journalism Schemes in 2025
We’ve included 5 of the best online journalism schemes in 2025 to help you narrow down which traditional online journalism scheme is right for you.
The Reuters Digital Journalism Training Program
The Reuters Digital Journalism Training Program is a free online journalism course that teaches prospective journalists how to use digital reporting and editing skills.
The course is aimed at people based in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. It’s an e-learning program, made in collaboration with the Facebook Journalism Project, that provides journalists with a strong basis for reporting in the digital space, primarily focusing on the modules below:
Digital News Gathering
News Verification and Reporting
Publishing on Social Media
Wellness and Resilience Training While Reporting
The program was developed by Reuters, a news agency employing around 2,500 journalists and 500 photojournalists across the globe.
The Reuters Digital Journalism Training Program aims to ensure that journalists are qualified to collate authentic information online and can use online platforms to improve the visibility of news content.
BBC Academy’s Online Journalism Courses
The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) has developed a range of learning resources aimed at assisting journalism students at the BBC and across the wider industry.
Budding journalists will be able to access e-learning content providing the latest editorial advice, blogs, events to attend, videos, and how-to content.
The BBC encourages prospective journalists from all industries such as music, foreign politics, and the news to learn via their academy to nurture their journalistic skills.
Some key learning resources available via their website include the following types of content:
Interviewing Techniques
Using Digital Devices for Interviews
Writing Tips
Presenting Guides
Radio Editing
Video Content
The Google News Initiative Training Center
The Google News Initiative Training Center is a training space that provides journalists and entrepreneurs with content to improve their editorial experience.
Classes are provided around different digital topics related to journalism, such as Data and Environmental Journalism, or Publishing and Monetization.
Google has created the site in 16 languages so that content can be accessed anywhere, by anyone.
There are a range of resources available to prospective journalists including courses, such as:
Keeping Drivers Safe With AI-Powered Journalism
Introduction to Machine Learning
Data Journalism
Storytelling With Google Earth
Fighting Climate Change With Geo-Journalism
The Poynter Institute’s Journalism Courses
Another well-known online journalism course is by Poynter, a non-profit media institute and newsroom.
The Poynter Institute’s Journalism courses give candidates a wealth of knowledge on media literacy, fact-checking, and journalism ethics, providing a well-rounded foundation of the journalism world.
There are a range of options from personalized coaching and hands-on seminars to online, interactive courses. Many of their programs are free and allow prospective journalists to learn at their own pace, in their own time.
Some examples of online journalism courses available include:
Journalism Fundamentals: Craft & Values
How To Improve Your Coverage of LGBTQ+ Communities
The Art and Science of Editing
Bring Empathy to Your Reporting To Cultivate Success
Getting It Right: Accuracy and Verification in the Digital Age
Coursera & Udemy Journalism Certification Programs
Coursera and Udemy are open-source websites that provide a range of online courses on all manner of different topics.
There are many journalism courses on these platforms that allow students to choose affordable (and often free) study courses to widen their knowledge of the journalism sector.
Courses are rated to give you an idea of how helpful other people found them, and each course also provides an idea of its length before the student gets started.
Here are some top journalism courses on these sites that may be worth a look:
Coursera
English for Journalism
Become a Journalist: Report the News!
Journalism, the Future, and You!
Writing in the Sciences
Udemy
How To Be a Journalist - The Complete Guide to Journalism
The Complete Course on Sports Journalism
Freelance Journalism: How To Pitch and Write for Magazines
Fundamentals of Literature Journalism and Critics
Beyond Traditional Training: beehiiv’s Media Collective for Journalists
beehiiv is passionate about helping journalists who are looking to explore an independent way of working.
beehiiv’s Media Collective helps people create a platform – whether it’s a website, newsletter, app, or all three – to take ownership of their audience data.
What Is the Media Collective?
The beehiiv Media Collective is a first-of-its-kind initiative to empower journalists to become independent. The Collective provides a platform, resources, and operational support to launch and grow their media ventures.
The Media Collective welcomes journalists to apply to join the already 20,000 active publishers, encouraging writers to create their own all-in-one digital newsroom.
Why Independent Journalism Is on the Rise
Independent journalism has seen a significant rise in recent years, with around one-third of journalists being freelance or self-employed according to a recent survey by Pew Research Center.
Digital media has drastically changed the journalism industry, with traditional news media being swapped for online content and social media reporting.
The rise of independent journalism has also been affected by the rising distrust in mass media, with 36% of U.S. adults having no trust in the media (Gallup), giving independent journalists a space to win back public trust by reporting the news from a single perspective rather than a large corporation that may have other interests involved.
How beehiiv’s Media Collective Supports Journalists
beehiiv’s Media Collective supports journalists who are looking to take the leap into independent work.
Here are just a few of the advantages of the Collective:
Funding and Financial Support: beehiiv has committed another several million dollars to the scheme over the next 2 years and even provides a monthly stipend and concierge service with their network of insurance partners.
Legal and Editorial Assistance: beehiiv provides journalists with pre-publication reviews, legal support, and errors and omissions (E&O) coverage.
Exclusive Publishing and Audience Growth Tools: The Collective provides an easy-to-use, exclusive publishing experience, with a focus on understanding readership and developing audiences.
Monetization Opportunities for Independent Journalists: Over $13 million has been earned by publishers to date, and journalists take home 100% of the revenue that they earn via the Collective. beehiiv doesn’t take a cut of this revenue. Plus, they allow journalists to make use of their Ad Network and premium sponsor opportunities.
Learn more about how beehiiv can help budding journalists via our blog here!
Why Listen to Me? I have been working in the digital marketing space for nearly 10 years, predominantly helping brands with their email marketing and online presence. I now specialize in creating great content for beehiiv to help people nail their email strategies!
How To Choose the Best Online Journalism Scheme for You
There are many digital journalism fellowships out there, so which one is right for you?
Free vs. Paid Journalism Programs
Cost is a big factor when it comes to choosing a journalism program, as some are free whereas others require a fee.
Free courses are a good place to start, especially if you’re on a tight budget. They can give you a good foundation that you can build on and are ideal if you prefer working independently.
However, free courses rarely provide access to mentorship or instructor access. Paid courses are more likely to provide access to these features and may also offer courses on more specific subject matters.
Online Journalism Certifications vs. Traditional Degrees
How do online journalism certifications compare to traditional degrees?
Typically, a traditional degree program gives a broader, perhaps more comprehensive overview of a specific skill. These degrees are also useful if you want a deeper theoretical understanding of a subject matter and work best in person or in a classroom environment.
Online journalism courses are best for the independent learner, focusing on practical skills and targeting areas such as digital media/social media. They also give flexibility to students who require the ability to work from home due to other commitments.
Hands-On Experience & Portfolio Building
Whichever course/program you choose, it’s super important to focus on hands-on experience and building your portfolio.
The more experience you have under your belt, the higher your chances are of securing new work. You can also build a bank of your best articles to show publications just how great your work is.
Make sure you’re creating a wide range of articles on different topics in a plethora of formats such as news articles, feature stories, opinion pieces, and reports to show prospective publications just what you’re capable of.
The Future of Online Journalism Training
Many journalists wonder about the future of online journalism training and where it is going.
In the next few sections, we’ll discuss why digital-first journalism is the future, how artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the journalism space, and the growing demand for subscription-based news.
Why Digital-First Journalism Is the Future
Besides the rise in digital publications over the last few years, there are many other reasons why digital-first journalism is the future:
Reach: With the increase of social media as a news source, the reach of digital media is huge. Over 52% of UK adults say that they use social media for reading the news, and TV news has declined by 5% when comparing 2024 with the previous year (Ofcom).
Engagement: Online newspapers and social media sites allow users to directly interact with content via comments sections. This gives online media an advantage, being able to see in real-time what their viewers are thinking.
Cost: Print and distribution are some of the most expensive elements of traditional media -- overheads that online media simply doesn’t have. This makes it more affordable in general, allowing digital publishers to focus their spending on other areas such as marketing.
Analysis: A key benefit of online content is that it’s easy to use data-driven insights to track audience behavior and amend the content accordingly.
How AI and Automation Are Changing Journalism
AI and automation have had a significant impact on the journalism sector with the rise in articles created by AI and efficiency being prioritized with automation tools.
However, these processes cannot replace the critical thinking that human journalists can use when reporting the news, as well as ethical judgment and storytelling skills.
Many journalists see a future of combined work between humans and AI, allowing articles to be created more quickly and efficiently with the benefit of a human touch.
Growing Demand for Subscription-Based News Outlets
Subscriptions provide news outlets with a constant revenue stream, allowing readers to sign up and pay for their favorite news sources as they would a traditional newspaper.
69% of leading newspapers offer some form of subscription to their readers, a trend that has continued to increase since 2017 (Reuters Institute). This is largely due to readers turning to online media outlets for their news content, knowing that they can subscribe to a specific site/writer and read news that is relevant to them.
There are also growing sites such as Substack, which are useful for independent journalists, where they can invite their readers to support them specifically and receive news content in return.
Google’s People Also Ask Questions
What is the best online school for journalism?
There are a range of online schools for journalism, including traditional courses at the London School of Journalism and online courses via Coursefy and Udemy.
Which stream is best for journalism?
Typically, students looking to study journalism find subjects such as English, politics, history, and media studies useful in building a basis for a journalism course/degree.
What type of journalism pays the most?
Journalists in competitive, lucrative sectors such as finance, tech, and digital tend to command higher salaries.
How can you break into journalism?
Breaking into journalism can be competitive, but building a strong, varied portfolio and exploring online journalism courses can help you secure jobs in the journalism sector.
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