CSUN and Maynard Institute schedule free California newsroom training with AI ethics session

California State University, Northridge and the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education will hold a tuition-free Propel Regional Training programme for California news editors and managers in Burbank from Oct. 22 to 24. The two-and-a-half-day course includes a session on ethical use of artificial intelligence in sourcing and editing. According to the CSUN newsroom, the programme is open to frontline, mid-career and student editors and managers working in print, broadcast, digital and audio journalism. It will be conducted in English and is intended for journalists from all backgrounds across the state’s media outlets and platforms. CSUN’s Department of Journalism and its Tom & Ethel Bradley Center are partnering with the Maynard Institute on the training, which offers management and editing instruction, coaching and community-building. Faculty and panelists from diverse backgrounds will lead hands-on workshops and customised coaching intended to help participants manage teams and coverage and build resilience. The curriculum also includes sessions on a manager’s toolkit during disruption, everyday editing techniques, managing major projects, immigration and ICE coverage, community-centred student-led journalism, and navigating difficult conversations. The programme will close with a regional news-leaders panel on California’s media landscape, sustainability frameworks, newsroom integrity and belonging, civil-liberties pressures and AI acceleration. Two meals a day will be provided. Limited discounted hotel rooms and needs-based travel assistance will also be available. The Burbank course is part of the Propel Initiative, led by the Maynard Institute with American Community Media, California Black Media and Latino Media Collaborative. The institute says its programmes are open to all applicants and seek to address the underrepresentation of people of color and other historically disadvantaged groups in media professions. Training runs from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 22 and 23, and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Oct. 24, at the Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport Hotel.