Tuesday, May 19, 2009

World Journalism Institute

I had the wonderful privilege this morning of addressing the 17 students who are currently participating in the World Journalism Institute in New York City. WJI was started a number of years ago by Bob Case to help meet a very critical need. Bob saw the importance of preparing future journalists for work in the secular news media. He and Kim Collins have done a wonderful job of recruiting very capable young men and women who have a heart for impacting the culture with truth, wisely presented, with excellence.

The eight week long course, Backpack Journalism in a Digital Age, is designed to provide college journalists who are Christian with an intensive college level course that includes approximately 50 hours of pre-class reading and writing, 200 hours of classroom lecture, discussion and homework, and approximately 100 hours of post-classroom reporting.

I've had the opportunity to address the students in the course for the past few years, and have always been impressed with the quality of the students and the quality of the teaching.

When I spoke this morning, I was again reminded of how important it is for evangelical Christians to regain lost credibility in our culture. Too many of those who have been in positions of leadership within the evangelical world have undermined the faith they have purportedly been proclaiming by being unwise in their comments and unprincipled in their actions. The World Journalism Institute in doing a great job of preparing the future generation to help reestablish that lost credibility.

No comments: