The Community Media Training School has been proving a success, with members of the public interested in becoming ‘Citizen Reporters’. Many people have now volunteered, and written submissions have been received and posted on the Citizens’ Eye website.

To do citizens journalism right means we must create a team of reporters who are typically excluded from or misrepresented by the mainstream media such as, low-income women, minorities and young people, especially refugee and asylum seekers, people with disabilities, ex-offenders, older people and the homeless. These demographic and lifestyle groups have little access to the media and advertisers are generally not interested in them. The course in community journalism provides members of the public and minority groups with the skills and knowledge to tell their story to a wide audience, through good quality, clear reports, newsletters and articles.

Equally suitable for newcomers to journalistic writing and for those already involved in the production of newssheets, the course will equip participants with the skills to deliver their news in a professional and targeted way.

What will I learn?
The courses cover all aspects of journalistic reporting, including:

• Selecting and clarifying the message or story
• Identifying an appropriate audience
• How to write news which is authentic, strategic and pragmatic
• Understanding of modern media
• Understanding of political processes in order to influence change
• How to get your voice heard

Courses involve writing, the use of the English language and basic I.T. However, anyone wishing to take an active part in the production of community news, who does not have these skills, may still be able to achieve their own learning outcomes by using verbal contributions.

The CMTS have been expanding their courses and timings throughout 2009 and the following sessions are regularly held in the Learning Annex at the Learning and Information Library.
Monday 5.00-6.30pm – Learning Annex, Learning and Information Library 
Wednesday 2.00-3.00pm – Central Lending Library 
Saturday 12.00-3.00pm – Learning Annex, Learning and Information Library
Each session is used to help provide increased skills training for attendees and the guidance on how to structure article writing to best effect. Practical tips and relevant examples are used to help participants to develop or improve the necessary skills they need to become a Citizen Reporter.

Pre-arranged volunteering opportunities, in partnership with the Library Service, have started, allowing the public to take part in one or two week Community Media workshops. These are all practical sessions with the creation of real content that is used to create newsletters, radio programmes or short films for YouTube.

Each participant receives a certificate of attendance and the opportunity to learn new skills.

Examples of content received and posted on Citizens’ Eye include:

“My name is Cath and I am an alcoholic. So what image do you have of me based on that one emotive word? A down and out, a street drinker? Someone you might cross the street to avoid? Someone with a criminal record for brawling, or stealing to support my habit? A frequent flyer at A&E for the states I get myself into, and the risks that come to me as a result?”
Cath – Notes from Under the Table – the story of one woman’s attempt to deal with her alcohol problem.

“In developing and introducing a new ‘green’ read to the citizens of Leicestershire, we are truly hoping to instil some of that fervour and compassion we know to exist for our small part of the planet, as best we can – for as long as we can. Our new supplement anticipates reinvigorating any environmental awareness that seems to have been lost, or in part, unheard amongst the masses.”
Claire Hudson (Editor – Green Issues).

“Has homelessness now become a growth industry? A vibrant and thriving business opportunity, where careers and job security are thought to be as important as the desire to help people out of the cycle of despair and deprivation, whilst at the same time tolerating, condoning and even positively encouraging the negative issues widely associated with the homeless? Is the system also inadvertently, at best, promoting and feeding those negative views?”
Keith Hart (Editor – Down Not Out) ‘Hot Potato’ blog on Homelessness.

If you want to have your say then contact editor@citizenseye.org or drop into the Community Media Hub in the Learning and Information Library.