A free summer webinar series designed for journalism educators

Presented by Kent State University’s Center for Scholastic Journalism, NSPA and Quill & Scroll

Nearly 4-in-10 young adults say they get their news from social media influencers. How do we teach students to create journalism content for the platforms they and their friends are using?

Join us for a nine-session webinar about news influencers and content creators. Learn about their work, and help create standards and assessments for use in the classroom.

Wednesdays in June and July on Zoom

 7 – 8:30 p.m. Eastern / 4 – 5:30 p.m. Pacific

Sessions will be recorded and made available to registered participants.

Optional credit

Attend all nine sessions to earn one hour of graduate credit ($165) and/or a Continuing Education Unit (free) from Kent State University.

• Register here for graduate credit. 
• Register here for CEU.

You have to register separately for the webinar above.

Topics and Speakers

June 4, 2025
Introductions & What the Research Says
Galen Stocking, Pew Research Center, speaking about prior research
Summer Harlow, University of Texas at Austin, Author of Content Creators and Journalists

June 11, 2025
Varieties of News Influencers and Content Creators
Liz Kelly Nelson, Project C

June 18, 2025
News, but make it engaging: Lessons from content creators
Mollie Muchna, Trusting News

June 25, 2025 (session start time moved to 8 p.m. EST)
Journalism Isn’t Dead. It’s Just on TikTok.
Grant Johnson, 9NEWS Denver, Arizona State University
Lisa Remillard, The News Girl (@lisaremillard on TikTok)

July 2, 2025
I Changed My Media Diet and You Can Too
Ryan Kellett, Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University

July 9, 2025
Podcasting and Video Resources
Claire McInerny, Refamulating and The Rough Draft
Christine Zirneklis, PBS News Student Reporting Labs

July 16, 2025
Law and Ethics of News Content Creators
Lindsie Rank, Director of Campus Rights Advocacy at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE)

July 23, 2025
Being a Fiction and Television Influencer
Meredith Ammons (@merelymeredith on TikTok)

July 30, 2025
Being a Fashion Influencer
Cici Michele (@cicimichele on TikTok)

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This webinar series is moderated by Andre Claudio and Marta Hill.

Andre Claudio is a journalism graduate from Kent State University and a current master’s student in marketing and social media at Pace University. He works as a business reporter for Fairchild Media Group, contributing to its leading publications WWD, Sourcing Journal and Rivet. With a strong foundation in storytelling and digital strategy, he focuses on the intersection of fashion, pop culture and commerce.

Marta Hill is a journalism graduate student in New York University’s Science Health and Environmental Reporting Program and a graduate of Northeastern University’s journalism school. She is a news reporting intern at The Transmitter for the summer of 2025. Marta got her start in journalism on her high school paper — she joined as a sophomore and never looked back.