ICFJ offers online financial journalism course

The International Center for Journalists will offer two online courses in English and Spanish on covering marketing concepts such as how to plan for retirement, understanding your 401k, stock and bond markets, mutual funds and private and public companies, among others.

These courses will be available to U.S. journalists who report in minority communities.

The online courses will take place from July 2, 2012 through Aug. 27, 2012. Participants selected will be asked to give a project proposal that they will work on developing through the length of the course. As well, a project mentoring period to help participants finalize their projects will take place from Aug. 27, 2012 until Oct. 8, 2012.

The courses will be open to Spanish-speaking and English-speaking journalists from ethnic media. Participants will be trained to effectively cover consumer and marketing finance issues including topics ranging from credit and lending, housing and mortgages to retirement planning and investing.

The Spanish course is led by Xavier Serbia, the editor-in-chief and founder of Xavierserbia.com. Serbia is a personal finance syndicated columnist and has written for various Hispanic media outlets.

The English course is led by Chris Roush, who teaches business and economics reporting at the University of North Carolina and has written six books, including two about business journalism.

The courses will be divided into three parts:

• an eight-week online training on financial markets and consumer business
• a six-week online mentoring period, during which participants produced stories to publish them in the media
• a three-day field trip to New York City, where three selected participants will have the opportunity to interview with notable financial experts.

At the end of the online courses, three participants will receive a McGraw-Hill Personal Finance Award and cash prizes of $2,000, $1,000 and $500.

For more information, please contact Pablo Munoz at pmunoz@icfj.org.