News University, the e-learning program run by Poynter Institute, is creating a series of writing webinars and wants input from the freelance community on what they should cover.

Any writer who takes the survey will receive a 50 percent discount on any News U. writing webinar when the program launches next year – how’s that for a sweet deal?

Howard Finberg, Poynter’s director of interactive learning, reached out to WordCount to help promote participation in the survey among the freelance community, saying “This is an attempt to reach independent writers with quality training.”

I was more than happy to oblige. With more journalists working as free agents, whether by circumstance or choice, it benefits everyone when they’re as up to speed on the latest research, reporting and writing techniques as staff reporters and editors.

If you’re interested in participating in the News U. survey, you’ll find it here. Once you’ve completed the survey, you’ll receive a promo code you can use to receive a discount on the webinars when they’re available.

But wait – as they say in the TV commercials – there’s more. Finberg is also offering $10 off a News U. class on fighting writers block that takes place on Thursday, Sept. 16, at 2 p.m. Eastern. The class, which regularly costs $24.95, will be taught by Roy Peter Clark, Poynter’s vice president and senior scholar. To receive the discount, use promo code: PWRDHLP10.

Since it started three years ago, News University had enrolled more than 51,000 journalists from around the world in its free online classes and low-cost Webinars, according to an October 2007 report.

Classes include Math for Journalists, Covering Climate Change, Telling Stories with Sound, Beat Basics and Beyond, and Get Me Rewrite: The Craft of Revision. A new free two-hour class called Beyond the Inverted Pyramid: Creating Alternative Story Forms, is currently in beta testing.

Writers who’ve taken News U. classes swear by them. Dan Ferber, an award-winning freelance writer based in Indianapolis, says a class in foreign reporting was invaluable in helping him prepare for his first international reporting trip. “The material was well organized, they made some creative use of the web, and the advice was spot on,” he says.