Media Giraffe Project --
Link & reference blog

http://www.mediabloggers.org/archives/2005/03/media_bloggers_5.php

For additional information contact:
Robert Cox
Media Bloggers Association
(928) 223-5711
FAX: (928) 223-5711
info@mediabloggers.org
http://www.mediabloggers.org

March 21, 2005

Media Bloggers Association Launches First-of-its-kind Journalism Education
Program

Heritage Foundation, and Center for Budget and Policy Priorities partner
with MBA to offer journalism training for bloggers

NEW ROCHELLE, NY, and NASHVILLE, TN February 21, 2005 - The Media Bloggers
Association launched today the Media Bloggers Association Education and
Training Program with the announcement of a unique partnership between the
MBA And two leading Washington policy institutes: The Heritage
Foundation's Center for Media and Public Policy and the Center for Budget
and Policy Priorities. Under the auspices of the MBA, the two
organizations will sponsor training for 15 MBA members to attend a two-day
CARR training "boot camp". CARR stands for "Computer-Aided Research and
Reporting" and is designed to give journalists and now "citizen
journalists" tools to cut through the PR cant and spin to get to the real
underlying news on public policy issues, using publicly available
databases and statistical research techniques the academic world has used
for decades.

The MBA Education and Training Program will be overseen by MBA Member Mark
Tapscott who is currently the Director of the Center for Media and Public
Policy at The Heritage Foundation. The CARR "boot camp" is just the first
in a series of Education and Training programs planned by the MBA.

"Mark came up with the terrific idea for offering CARR training to
bloggers soon after joining the MBA last year", says Robert Cox, President
of the Media Bloggers Association, "our only concern was the need to
remain non-partisan and how working with Heritage alone might impact that.
Mark solved that by enlisting his 'opposite numbers' at the Center for
Budget and Policy Priorities around the common goal of accountability and
transparency in government."

"Bringing together two leading think tanks and bloggers from different
political perspectives as part of an innovative program like the MBA
Education And Training Program was complex, said Tapscott, "but it's
definitely going to have been worth the wait."

The first CARR "boot camp" will be held at the Freedom Forum's First
Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University as part of the MBA's
BlogNashville, a three-day event hosted by the New Century Journalism
School at Belmont University, a mile from the Freedom Forum. The "boot
camp" will include two days of training and course materials provide at no
cost to MBA members. Plans for a second CARR "boot camp for bloggers" at
the National Press Club in Washington, DC are already underway for this
coming summer.

The Media Bloggers Association (http://www.mediabloggers.org) is a
non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting MBA members and their
blogs. Founded in 2004, the membership includes independent/amateur
bloggers, professional bloggers and professional writers who operate a
personal blog, as well as those interested in the development of media
blogging, citizen journalism, and related endeavors.
The Heritage Foundation (http://www.heritage.org), founded in 1973, is a
research and educational institute - a think tank - whose mission is to
formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles
of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional
American values, and a strong national defense.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (http://www.cbpp.org/) is one
of the nationâ..s premier policy organizations working at the federal and
state levels on fiscal policy and public programs that affect low- and
moderate-income families and individuals. The Center conducts research and
analysis to inform public debates over proposed budget and tax policies
and to help ensure that the needs of low-income families and individuals
are considered in these debates.

The Freedom Forum (http://www.freedomforum.org/) is a nonpartisan
foundation dedicated to free press, free speech and free spirit for all
people. The foundation focuses on three priorities: the Newseum, First
Amendment freedoms and newsroom diversity. The Freedom Forum funds the
operations of the Newseum; the First Amendment Center; and the Diversity
Institute. The First Amendment Center and the Diversity Institute are
housed in the John Seigenthaler Center at Vanderbilt University in
Nashville, Tenn.
The New Century Journalism Program at Belmont University
(http://www.belmont.edu/) contains several primary and interrelated
components, all of which are closely related to Belmont University's
mission to integrate professional education with a strong core emphasis in
the liberal arts and ethical development. Our objective is to provide each
of our students with a high quality education that combines strong
critical thinking skills and practical training in the most current
professional methods with a personal understanding of the role that
journalists play in our society.

# posted by newshare @ 9:40 PM