HAVERHILL, Mass. —WHAV Staff Writer Jacob Posner last month completed “Reporter’s Toolkit,” a professional development course for early-career journalists offered by Poynter Institute.

The class, taught by well-regarded reporters, consisted of six training modules on core elements of the profession. Topics included finding the core of a story, coming up with strong ideas for articles and interviewing vulnerable sources sensitively.

The workshop exists, Dallas Morning News Assistant Managing Editor Tom Huang explained, because news media has been so hollowed out in recent years. On top of that, with many newsrooms remote, young journalists have not received the same knowledge transfer previous generations did.

When he first started out, Huang said he learned much from listening in on telephone interviews conducted by veteran reporters sitting near him. That kind of learning has become increasingly rare, according to those taking the class. Some said they had never met their coworkers in-person.

Pulitzer-Prize-winning Investigative Journalist Kathleen McGrory took the lead onthe course about finding the core of a story. She suggested writers ask themselves a few focusing questions: “Why does it matter? What’s the point? Why is this story being told? What does it say about life, about the world, about the times we live in? What is the story really about in one word?”

With only 45 seconds allowed per question, they allow the reporter to tap into what their gut says is most important to get across about a policy change, sports team victory, hottest film in Hollywood, or whatever else they may be writing about.

WHAV covered the course tuition at the St. Petersburg, Fla., nonprofit that “strengthens democracy by improving the relevance, ethical practice and value of journalism.”

The WHAV call letters have been associated with Haverhill broadcasting since 1947. Greater Haverhill’s only public radio station and nonprofit local news service, 97.9 WHAV is today operated by Public Media of New England Inc. It is located in WHAV’s original downtown studio building and transmits from WHAV’s original transmitter building atop Silver Hill in Haverhill.