Next cohort start date: Thurs. Jan. 23, 2025. Registration is now open.
Meetings are held at the Mercer County Community College Conference Center on 8 consecutive Thursday nights from 6-8:30. All sessions are free to registered participants.
Program Information
The “J Lab” at MCCC is a continuing education program for residents in the Mercer County, NJ area to learn basic skills of journalism so they can tell the stories of their communities that may otherwise be overlooked.
Read published articles from previous participants here.
The 8-evening program, offered fall and spring, is led by a journalism professor and includes guest presentations from writers and editors from several community publications and national media outlets.
Session topics include:
- interviewing strategies,
- photography tips and tricks,
- fact-checking,
- determining newsworthiness,
- handling ethical questions of community reporting,
- following basic journalistic writing practices, and more!
Students in the program are invited to attend weekly meetings of The College VOICE, the award-winning student newspaper at MCCC, and interact with student reporters in the Journalism & New Media degree program. They receive regular feedback and support from the professor, a teaching assistant, and the VOICE editors.
To qualify for the certificate, students must maintain a reporter’s notebook, attend class consistently, contribute to discussions, and complete one or more publishable quality articles. J Lab articles are published on The VOICE website and can be used as part of a portfolio for those seeking further publication opportunities.
Following the program, certificate recipients are equipped to contribute to their local news ecosystems. They may submit their work to newsletters, blogs, social media, or other information-sharing platforms if they choose. MCCC works with several partner publications to help facilitate this opportunity.
Thanks to financial support from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities and The New School: Journalism + Design, the course is currently offered at no cost. Class size is capped at 20. All materials are provided.
For more information about how to participate in or support the “J Lab,” email Prof. Holly Johnson at johnsonh@mccc.edu.