National project "Digital Journalism" launch

Russia is experiencing a serious shortage of journalists who understand IT in various fields: technology, business, the impact of digital transformation on society, modern threats, etc. The national educational project "Digital Journalism" should help solve this problem.

— "Information technology is now more important and necessary than ever. In isolation, IT helps people work remotely, and businesses stay afloat. This is significant support for the economy. Therefore, it is extremely important to understand the basics of how technology works and write about it well," says the organizer of the educational project, CEO of ANO "Digital Platforms" Arseny Shchelcin.

According to "Digital Platforms", there are thousands of active journalists and experts in our country - representatives of significant public organizations. To provide citizens with the most up-to-date information, most of them need to improve their IT knowledge in various fields: technology, business, the impact of digital transformation on society, modern threats, etc. This course will be useful for everyone who covers important socio-economic topics.

Until the end of the isolation regime, training will be conducted online through a video conferencing system. This format will allow the educational process to be brought as close as possible to the face-to-face format. In addition, written homework will be analyzed in real time by professional journalists and editors. After the isolation regime is lifted, face-to-face classes will begin, and it is planned to hold offsite events in 10 regions of Russia: Moscow, Sochi, Kazan, St. Petersburg, Vladivostok, Ulyanovsk, Kaliningrad, Perm, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod.

The project "Digital Journalism" is designed to help authors understand how technologies and digital services transform the work of government, medical, financial, logistics, agricultural, communal, and other organizations.

— "After completing the training, project graduates will be able to understand how business processes are arranged in internet companies and internet services, analyze financial reports, look for exclusive news, understand how the media and telecom market works, navigate the current legislation, understand how modern technologies work, etc.," adds the head of the project "Digital Journalism" Vladimir Zykov.

The project will be taught by journalists from major Russian media such as MIA "Russia Today", RNS, TASS, "Izvestia", "Vedomosti", SM2, RusBase and others, as well as representatives of well-known IT companies such as Acronis, Ru-Center, TrueConf, R7-Office, Naumen and others. The project is launched with the support of a grant from the President of the Russian Federation, provided by the Presidential Grants Fund.

— "Now the digital agenda has become one of the main ones for the state and the media. Our task is to help colleagues understand IT and encourage them to write more about new technologies and services through training," believe the ideologists of the project: editor-in-chief of the analytical center TAdviser Alexander Levashov, and marketing communications expert (formerly a correspondent for the newspaper "Vedomosti" and the magazine "Finance") Nadezhda Levashova.

During the project, it is planned to train over 3000 people from all over Russia for free. It is planned to conduct more than 200 hours of lectures in seven educational modules: journalism features, mass modern IT technologies, promising digital cross-cutting technologies, application of high technologies in industries, digital law, features of regional digital transformation, main aspects of Russian state policy in ICT. Training will be conducted on the Skillcare platform using the TrueConf video conferencing system, and all written homework will be done on the domestic office platform R7-Office.

— "Digital Journalism" will cover not only capital authors but also journalists from all regions of Russia. It is great that such an exchange of experience will take place. It will undoubtedly be useful and in demand by regional journalists," noted the chairman of the Union of Journalists of Russia Vladimir Solovyov.

All interested parties can send applications for training through the official website of the project digitaljournalism.rf. Applications will be accepted until May 12. During registration, listeners will need to choose which educational direction they will follow: for journalists or for NGO representatives.

The best students will be able to undergo internships in well-known Russian media after completing the educational project.