MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
24 MARCH, 2009
Minister to launch Communications and Media Industry Training Organisation
The Associate Minister for Tertiary Education, Dr Wayne Mapp, will officially launch the country’s newest Industry
Training Organisation at a ceremony at Parliament on March 31.
The Communications and Media Industry Training Organisation (CMITO) is responsible for setting unit standards and
administering workplace qualifications for the communications and media industries, including journalism, graphic
design, marketing, printing production, digital communications and fibreboard packaging. It results from the merger of
PrintNZ Training and the New Zealand Journalists Training Organisation (NZJTO) in September 2008.
Dr Mapp said industry training plays an important role in the tertiary education sector and the new ITO will add to the
high standard of workplace training excellence already in evidence.
``Education needs to be able to adapt as new technology revolutionises the shape of our economy,’’ he said. ``The
building blocks set by the Communications and Media ITO will provide an important influence on the future of this
sector.’’
CMITO chief executive Joan Grace says the new ITO provides a working model for future development for the industry. In
time, the scope of CMITO will be widened to include multi-media, graphic design, broadcasting, film and outdoor
advertising.
``The Communications and Media ITO has been established in such a way that each industry sector retains its unique
identity while operating under one united banner,’’ she says. ``In this way, CMITO can represent our industry to the
wider business community, while allowing individual sector committees to carry on doing what they do best, which is
meeting the needs of their member companies.
``Each of the industries included in CMITO require highly skilled and well trained professionals. Our task is to ensure
our programmes draw out the very best in our trainees and provide them with the skills needed to thrive in their chosen
careers.’’
To this end, the National Diploma in Applied Journalism will also be launched on March 31. The new qualification, which
will be registered at Level 6 on the National Qualifications Framework, provides a practical application of the skills
taught in the country’s Journalism schools. Graduate journalists can now complete unit standards in news and feature
writing, court reporting, media law, ethics and news gathering as they go about their daily tasks on the job. Unit
standards are also being developed in news and feature subbing.
Measures to enhance literacy throughout the printing and communications sector will also be introduced. These include
programmes to revise and upgrade training material, provide training to ITO staff and workplace trainers on literacy,
and continue with existing one-on-one support for apprentices and trainees with specific literacy issues. These
programmes, designed to enhance the ITO’s capability, have been made possible by support from the Tertiary Education
Commission.
ends