Law, business and government courses

Law update

A refresher for senior people who need to catch up on changing legislation and current thinking. The course is based on real-life problems facing delegates and the professional behaviour required to avoid contempt and libel.

Who should attend: Senior journalists.

Course Length: One day.

An introduction to the complex world of copyright. This course guides the journalist through the legislation governing the ownership of intellectual property - principally the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and all the recent changes. What are the implications for journalists of using copy and pictures supplied by non-staff? Who owns what you publish? What action can you take against those who breach your copyright? What action can be taken against you should you breach someone else's copyright? And what are the copyright implications of online publishing and using material found on the internet? This course offers a guide through the minefield.

Who should attend: Anyone with responsibility for commissioning copy and pictures.

Course Length: One day.

A bespoke course for the executives who decide how to interpret the contempt laws, how to use balance and consent to avoid libel pitfalls, how to deal with aggressive lawyers, how to complain and how to avoid high costs. A chance for editors to catch up and use legal knowledge to make strong, clear policy to harness the editorial team.

Who should attend: Editors and/or their deputies.

Course Length: Two days.

What do ordinary people know about business and finance? Are our pages pitched at the right level? How effective can the business pages be in attracting advertising and raising the profile of a newspaper. Our specialists show how to write and present the business pages so that they have both credibility and clarity.

Who should attend: Anybody working on the business pages or thinking of doing so.

Course Length: Two days.

Find the human interest in official sources. Bring yourself up to date on the new rules and structures in local government, the NHS and education. And find out how to turn information from dry-as-dust official sources into stories that matter about real people. Help your readers influence decisions and turn your paper into a must-read.

Who should attend: All reporters covering councils and anyone working on the newsdesk.

Course Length: One day.

Find out how to use FoI to source and develop stories, overcome obstructive public bodies and bypass press officers. Stay one step ahead of your rivals. Make the rules work for you and learn how quick and cheap success can be. This one-day course will ground you in the basics and provide expert guidance on how to argue the public interest case for your requests and make successful challenges when requests are rejected. It will examine some recent decisions by the Information Commissioner.

Who should attend: All reporters, specialist correspondents and anyone working on the newsdesk.

Course Length: One day.