SAE Institute, the largest worldwide private college for media production and training, has launched a diploma in digital journalism – the first of its kind in the region.

The launch was announced recently at a debate on the pros and cons of digital media and journalism in Dubai.

“Digital journalism is the way of the future,” said Pia Heikkila, co-creator of the new SAE Institute digital journalism diploma and a freelance digital journalist.

“The media revolution shows no signs of slowing down, so journalists must evolve, embracing new forums and ways of working to reach their audiences.”

“With the demand for new media on the rise and the industry set to expand considerably, courses such as the SAE Institute diploma in digital journalism are vital to train students on the new tools and techniques required of modern journalists. The new course teaches students the values of journalism and how to tailor that to a range of media – it teaches you to think creatively,” he added.

“It will be an exciting marketplace, full of new business models and surprising examples of new media and digital journalism, with many success stories. The companies that fail to innovate will be left behind,” said Mark Briggs, American author, online publisher and journalist.

“Digital journalism is in its infancy, but has unlimited potential. If the old dinosaurs don’t embrace the new world, they will die. The new world is already here. We need to change the way we think,” added Heikkila.

“The rise of new media doesn’t mean that journalism is dying, it is just changing. Technology makes journalism better – it has already and the best is still ahead of us,” said Briggs.

“There will still be a place for print newspapers but it will be with a thriving online and web element. Nowadays it is an online world, and that is where the battle will be won or lost,” he continued.

“A lot of print journalists who I have worked with in the past have feared the rise of technology but in reality it makes journalism more collaborative, more immediate and more interactive - better serving readers. Online allows journalists to reach far more people than you ever could through print,” Briggs added.

Enrolments for the new SAE Digital Journalism Diploma are open now and the first classes begin on June 27, a statement said. – TradeArabia News Service