IAPA, UNAM launch online course to confront violence

The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) and the Autonomous National University of Mexico (UNAM) announced today they will offer a joint online degree course whose key focus will be the juxtaposition of violence and the practice of freedom of expression. The course, titled “The practice of journalism in the face of violence: Investigative methods and new technologies,” will be begin on April 5 and last 10 weeks. Upon completing the course participants will receive a diploma granted by the prestigious Mexican university. The IAPA-UNAM agreement was signed on February 17 in Mexico City by Fernando Castañeda Sabido, dean of the university’s School of Political and Social Sciences (FCPyS), and IAPA President Alejandro Aguirre. Aguirre, managing editor of the Miami, Florida, Spanish-language newspaper Diario Las Americas, stated that quality education “is the starting point for journalists to become in-depth specialists in confronting violence, an issue that has taken us all by surprise and requires greater awareness so that press freedom and free speech are not restricted.” The online course will be taught from the UNAM campus with interactive materials, videoconferencing and online chats on investigative reporting, new journalistic genres, legal tools, emerging information technologies and methods of self-protection. Professors include more than 20 specialists from the IAPA’s Press Institute and Impunity Committee training team and the UNAM academic staff. Representing the IAPA in the agreement signing ceremony with Aguirre were Executive Director Julio E. Muñoz and Press Freedom and Press Institute Director Ricardo Trotti. UNAM was represented by Alma Iglesias, head of the Department of Further Education and Connection. To learn more about how to sign up for the course, in the next few days visit: http://geografiaderiesgos.blogspot.com