Community Journalism: Digital and Social Media (FutureLearn)

Community journalism is a growing area of interest for professional journalists, academics and the wider public. The decline of local newspapers and radio stations, coupled with the low cost of publishing online, means there are more community journalism and hyperlocal websites being launched everyday.

Launch your own community or hyperlocal site

Whether you want to launch and support your own site - or simply study this new media sector - this free online course will give you both useful insights and practical skills.

Community journalism is an area that combines elements of traditional journalism with the new opportunities brought about by digital and social media, so we’ll look at:

- setting up a community website

- exploring different forms of community – local, professional or personal

- identifying and building an audience

- creating content and establishing a workflow to sustain the site

- managing an online community

- and abiding by media law and ethics

- hands-on tips for Wordpress, Twitter and Facebook