Got this message today from the National Association of Black Journalists and wanted to pass it along to you. They’re partnering with the New York Times to produce an almost year-long leadership academy for beginning or mid-career managers in print and web journalism.

From NABJ:

NABJ/New York TIMES LEADERSHIP ACADEMY

November 2010 – August 2011

APPLICATION DEADLINE:
October 1, 2010

WHAT IS IT?
The Leadership Academy is a unique training and development program for print and Web journalists who are, or aspire to become, newsroom managers.  Beginning or mid-career managers will be guided through the issues and challenges of newsroom leadership, and will gain skills necessary to lead in a rapidly-changing media world.

Journalists selected to attend the Academy will receive all expense paid leadership training at The Times during the fall and at Harvard University through the Maynard Institute Media Academy in January and March (each session at Harvard is a week long).  The group will come together one last time at the summer NABJ convention to share their experience with interested colleagues.

Applicants should have two to five years experience in one or more management positions. Deadline for applications is October 1, 2010.

HOW DO I APPLY?
The Leadership Academy is open to newspaper and Web journalists with strong leadership and managerial potential who want to further develop their skills. Applicants may come from a range of newsroom experience including–but not limited to-department or section heads, deputy or assistant editors, assignment editors, slots, photo editors, photographers, designers, graphics editors and Web editors.

An application must contain ALL of the following:

1. The application form, completed and signed, CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD
2. Your resume
3. A letter of recommendation
4. Proof of membership in NABJ

Applications may be obtained and information provided by contacting the coordinator of the Leadership Academy Juanita Powell-Brunson, at 212 556-3599 or poweljf@nytimes.com.

Applicants must be able to meet the time requirements including two days in November or December in New York; one week at Harvard in January, another week at Harvard in March; and the NABJ convention in August.

Deadline:Applications must be postmarked by October 1 and mailed to:

CONTACT:
The NABJ/New York Times Leadership Academy
Attn: Dana Canedy
Senior Editor
PO Box 2690
Times Square Station
New York, NY 10108

One of the most fascinating tidbits of info that I got from a recent panel on online media was how niche publications and websites are the future of media.

I captured some footage of David Wilson, founder of the Grio, discussing the Grio’s relationship with parent company NBC. In this clip, David describes the trickle-up effect of online news: how news can potentially break on the Grio and end up on NBC nightly news or the Today Show.

The Grio is a niche news site for African-American viewpoints. So case-in-point: Go niche.

Another one of the speakers on this panel was the co-founder of Politico.com which is doing pretty well as new media companies g0. My takeaway: Gone are the days of being super general, so if you’re writing about travel, maybe consider writing about travel for parents. Writing about style? What about style for today’s busy business owner/blogger who has two toddlers and needs to be comfortable but also needs to have great things to wear for last minute meetings?

Here is a snippet from a presentation by former print journalist and now Morgan State University professor Allissa Richardson about online media. Richardson is explaining to a roomful of journalists how to live blog their news. When blogging, Richardson warns, you will encounter your audience in real time. No lag time for the letters to the editor; your critics will show up in the comments. So how do you deal?

One way to deal is to press the delete key. Especially if, as Richardson puts so eloquently, “you don’t want that type of drama on your blog.”

But this brings up a great issue: is digital media delete media? Is it necessarily a good thing to be able to erase the negative comments that we don’t wish to see? I know we all have spam filters on our blogs for people selling products, etc. But what about real people who post comments that are simply opinions contrary to our own?

Politico columnist Patrick Gavin brought this up during the PoliTwitch event back in May. (at 3:35 in the clip)  Since he runs a political blog, he uniformly receives a bevy of partisan comments, so many that he almost doesn’t read the comments on the blog.

But what do you think about digital media, negative comments and the delete key? Should negative comments be kept as a part of the story? Or should digital media journalists and bloggers have carte blanche to “police” the comments?

And another point: Do you consider the comments a valuable part of the story?