Professional Development Team seeks new members

The National Press Club's Professional Development Team is being revived and rebuilt with a new mission tailored for 2020: how to help the press improve its coverage of the elections.

And it's looking for new members to make it a reality.

Following the late 2018 hiring of Julie Moos as the National Press Club Journalism Institute's executive director, much of 2019 was spent  brainstorming, testing and collecting feedback on  types of professional development programs and training are most in demand by newsrooms and journalists.

In coordination with Moos and Institute staff, the Professional Development Team has agreed to take on a subset of that work this year -- organizing panel discussions and trainings for journalists on a variety of issues related to coverage of the 2020 elections. These topics may include understanding the ins and outs of polls; what motivates the largest bloc of Americans: nonvoters; how to avoid the cliches of campaign "diner" reporting while gaining the trust of those you're interviewing.

More help is needed though. Active club members who would like to volunteer for the team this year are invited to email their interest to Rachel Oswald, Professional Development Team chair, at [email protected]

Please include in your email: what in your professional background makes you interested in volunteering for the team this year and any ideas you may have for 2020 election programs.