FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – National and local journalists will gather to discuss covering issues of race and gender during the 2016 presidential election at the annual Center for Ethics in Journalism Media Workshop.
The event, “America Post Election: Bridging the Gaps in Race and Gender,” will begin with a panel of national journalists; Michael Fletcher from ESPN’s the Undefeated; Anne Gearan from the Washington Post; Jesse Holland, the 2015 visiting distinguished professor of journalism ethics and reporter for The Associated Press; April Ryan from American Urban Radio Network. Christi Welter, graduate student with the Center for Ethics in Journalism, will moderate the panel.
“This election showed the importance of race and gender inside the newsrooms of America,” said Holland, the race and ethnicity reporter for The Associated Press.
“For years diversity was not treated as the important issue it should be in newsrooms,” Holland said.
Holland said issues of race and gender were not thought about or discussed in newsrooms before they hit the public area during this election.
Holland said he hopes the event generates a “robust discussion” and supplies “solutions to apply to our lives and jobs.”
Students, faculty and working professionals will be invited to participate in activities to discuss issues of reporting during the election and the unique challenges that arise when reporting issues of race and gender.
“There is no more important issue faced by newsrooms today than diversity,” said Ray McCaffrey, director of the Center for Ethics in Journalism.
The workshop activities are designed to provide free, hands-on training for reporters, editors and producers, and can be translated into any newsroom or classroom.
The workshop will finish with a panel of local journalists including, Wayne Greene, editorial pages editor for the Tulsa World; Bryan Pollard, director of tribal relations at the UA Law School and former editor of the Cherokee Phoenix; Tony Russell, reporter for News on 6 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Channing Barker, reporter for KNWA, will moderate this panel.
The media workshop will be Friday, Nov. 18 at 8 a.m., in the Donald W. Reynolds Center on the UofA campus. Breakfast will be served during check-in. Registration for the event can be done by emailing uajourethicsevents@gmail.com, or by visiting the media workshop Facebook event page.