Zoom, Zoom, Zoom! News Associates staff and trainees make most of online learning

Our newsrooms may have fallen uncharacteristically silent but News Associates trainees certainly haven’t – but would you expect anything else?

News Associates journalism courses - a Zoom screen grab of our London fast-track class

As ‘Zoom’ becomes a new verb, our trainees have embraced the video conferencing platform to hold a highly-competitive weekly pub quiz, while one trainee is even offering free weekly yoga sessions – very useful when your desk is suddenly your sofa.

They have adapted quickly to remote lessons and shown the all the resilience skills needed to succeed in journalism. There’s even a weekly dress-up theme – the first being London Underground stations.

Staff even got involved to celebrate head of journalism Andrew Greaves’ birthday!

In addition, we’ve asked our staff, alumni and fellow journalists to share their top tips for working from home using the hashtag #WorkingFromHomeTogether.

Contributors included Daily Mirror columnist Susie Boniface, Spectator USA managing editor Matt McDonald, News UK creative director Mark Hudson, Newsquest digital lead Peter Grant, The Sun TV editor Andy Halls, The Athletic journalist Pete Rutzler and PressPad founder Olivia Crellin.

We’ve already welcomed a number of top journalists into our new Zoom world, including BBC News reporter Sarah Campbell and BBC rugby correspondent Chris Jones – whose tips and advice will prove invaluable.

And we’ve designed a series of free masterclasses for our trainees and those thinking about a career in journalism, with sessions including Journo Resources founder Jem Collins, Reuters correspondent Simon Evans, Bureau of Investigative Journalism reporter Meirion Jones, The Sun football journalist Tom Barclay, former Sky News correspondent Ian Woods, BBC News presenter Christian Fraser and BBC political correspondent Chris Mason.

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Across the country we’ve seen entire national newspapers produced from the living rooms and dining room tables of their staff journalists – and we are no exception.

Our October London part-time group produced their own edition of South West Londoner, with the help of mentors, Charlie Bowden, Alex Oscroft and Sifa Manara of The Times, for who News Associates deliver their graduate training programme.

“In times of crisis journalism really matters,” said News Associates managing editor James Toney.

“It’s been humbling to see the spirit and resilience of our trainees and their determination to make the best of the situation in which we suddenly all find ourselves.

“Our training team ran head first into this challenge and embraced it and are still coming up with new ideas for making it even better. I think some may even miss Zoom a bit when the world returns to normal, a day that can’t come too soon for us all.”

Why study anywhere else? Click here to apply for one of our award-winning fast-track, part-time or sports journalism courses in London or Manchester.