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WJI’s mission is to engage, equip, connect, and encourage Christians called to use their gifts in the field of multimedia journalism.
WJI offers one to two-week multimedia journalism intensives taught by WORLD News Group reporters and editors. Graduates explore a career in journalism by growing their skills, portfolio, and faith. WJI also provides ongoing opportunities to connect with fellow alums and build relationships that can lead to new career possibilities and lifelong friendships.
Since 1999, WJI has equipped hundreds of reporters to produce Biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires
WORLD News Group (WNG) started as a children’s publication in 1981 under Joel Belz, a returning missionary from China. WNG has expanded to multiple platforms and provides sound journalism, grounded in facts and Biblical truth. In 1986, it launched WORLD Magazine. The leadership of WORLD News Group recognized the need for a program that trained journalists to cover news events from a Christian worldview. Robert Case spearheaded WJI's training program after conversations with Joel Belz, Marvin Olasky, and Nick Eicher. In 1999, twenty-two students attended the very first WJI in Asheville, North Carolina. Today, WJI is still equipping and encouraging Christians to use their gifts in the field of multimedia journalism. Students have attended intensives in the United States Asheville, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, New York City, and Austin; and internationally in Uganda, Hong Kong, Poland, Belgium, and Switzerland. Learn more about WORLD’s history here.
Do you value truth, clarity, diligence, connections, and encouragement?
Applicants are eligible for WJI courses if they profess faith in Jesus Christ, are curious about the world, want to understand how the Bible informs how we think about current events, and are ready to be stretched to gain the confidence needed to hone skills for jobs in a competitive marketplace.
Professional journalists blend in-person, individual instruction and feedback with hands-on reporting experiences to teach students how to tell stories informed by a Biblical foundation in print, online, and on the air.
WJI participants receive instruction in the craft of storytelling, venture into the community to interview to do pavement-pounding reporting, and learn to report with a biblical lens. Instructors share their expertise and experience to help them hone their reporting skills. At WJI, students are challenged to get out of their comfort zones and gain confidence in their craft.
WJI's mission stems from WORLD’s goal to produce sound journalism, grounded in facts and Biblical truth. Employees at WORLD hold to The Nicene Creed as the basic creedal statement. Our theological understandings suggest several practices:
1. We believe that all people are created in the image of God and should therefore be treated with respect and integrity. Those with whom we disagree deserve our kindness, respect, and fairness in presentation. The Christian in journalism should seek justice, liberty, and fulfillment for all people. Jesus models this perfectly. We also see He was interested in the needs and well-being of the "uns": the unborn, the uneducated, the unemployed, and the unfashionable. Their concern is the Christian journalist’s concern as well.
2. The Bible is the ultimate guide to story. In the Bible, we see the reason for the brokenness and darkness, and sin in the world: Adam’s rebellion. Not one of us has escaped the consequences. Yet as Christian journalists, the story does not stop there. Jesus’ perfect life and sacrifice satisfied the punishment that mankind deserved for breaking God’s commandments, and so the death and destruction we see are not the end. Justice and mercy meet at the cross, and Christian reporters also seek to balance truth and grace. Every reporter has a worldview. Journalists who are Christians look to Scripture to inform their worldview on God, human nature, and the world around us.
3. We believe in a personal God who is sovereign over the affairs of this world. The Christian journalist therefore should be fearless in presenting truth even when it reflects negatively on some Christian organizations or individuals. All truth is God’s truth, and factual accuracy in news reporting is the bedrock of journalism. When reporters and editors tell the truth, they serve the public honorably and well. They participate in the bigger mission, even ministry, of bringing light to dark places.
4. Christians in journalism, if asked about beliefs and convictions, should have the freedom to answer any question in a warm-hearted and gracious manner without fear of professional or personal reprisal.
Please refer to Marvin Olasky's book Reforming Journalism for how a biblical worldview informs the work of a Christian journalist.