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Climate change reporting is (slowly) increasing awareness

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Reporting on Justin Gillis’s keynote address at the 2018 “Division, Denial & Journalism Ethics” conference at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

In recent years, Justin Gillis, former lead writer on climate science at The New York Times and a current contributing opinion writer for the newspaper, has seen an increased awareness in the American public about climate change.

Gillis says that this added awareness is a function of two factors: an increase in the amount of journalism on the topic, and simple, daily observation.

“People are trying to figure out why things are changing in my backyard, and then they’re seeing this journalism that explains it,” he said. “[Journalism’s] slowly working, it’s just that the problem is urgent.”

Justin Gillis in conversation with Katy Culver at the 2018 Center for Journalism Ethics conference.

Speaking in late-April at the Center for Journalism Ethics’ “Division, Denial and Journalism Ethics,” conference, Gillis discussed some of the challenges that science journalists have in explaining complex concepts to the American public.

Topics are often highly nuanced and difficult to explain to an average reader. Debates over sources of information can also further complicate discussions. Gillis seeks to cover science fairly and says that false balance (equating a position with a large swath of evidence with a position with far less evidence) has historically been a problem in coverage of the environment.

But it’s one part of the profession he sees as improving.

“This is less and less of a problem now in American journalism, at least on climate,” Gillis added.

Gillis discussed how changes in the climate are very real and that those who say that there is no such thing as climate change are “just crazy.”

“We’re in a very deep hole and we’re digging it deeper,” he said.

Climate denial is largely an Anglophone concept, or prevalent in English speaking counties, Gillis said, citing research by Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford. But Gillis doesn’t see climate denial as a major factor in overseas stories. Gillis says that climate denial is “just not part of the journalism” in England, as the “conservative party is just as committed as the labor party to climate action.”

In Germany, Gillis noted that much of the coverage on climate denial is mostly about the “bizarre Americans,” and why those in the United States are preventing major measures to curtail climate change.

Still, despite some challenges, Gillis sees examples of science journalism making a difference in people’s daily lives. Referring to a story he worked on about the importance of LED light bulbs and various others means to improve energy consumption, Gillis said, “I think the story that we did on the front page of The Times ten years ago helped to push that trend forward.”

Recap: Truth, Trust and the Future of Journalism

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Truth, Trust and the Future of Journalism brought together more than 200 journalists, scholars, advocates and community members to discuss how we have gotten to historically low levels of trust in news media and how we can ensure a free, courageous and responsible press in times of extreme partisanship.

Watch the panels here

The Center for Journalism Ethics’ annual conference focused on critical issues facing journalism today: fake news, conspiracy theories, disinformation, public mistrust and possible solutions in what some are calling a “post-truth” era.

Keynote conversation with Margaret Sullivan

The Washington Post’s media columnist Margaret Sullivan served as the keynote speaker, kicking off the conference with a Q & A with CJE director Katy Culver. Discussion spanned everything from the news balance of the last election cycle, to the value of the term “fake news,” to discussion of Sullivan’s previous role as Public Editor at The New York Times.

“The words ‘fake news’ are almost useless now because they have come to be used for anything that anyone doesn’t like … It’s actually a way of undermining the truth because if anything you don’t like, factual or not, can be called fake, how does the truth survive that?” – Margaret Sullivan

Photo by Melissa Behling

The Responsibility & Challenge of Truth: Fact, Fiction and News

Photo by Melissa Behling

Ken Vogel of Politico addressed the concern over major news organizations’ reliance on confidential sources. Vogel noted the importance of those relationships in reporting, but also said he thinks the best journalism happens when journalists are digging up information themselves, rather than working their insider sources.

In response to comments that much of the coverage surrounding Donald Trump is negative, UW journalism professor Lucas Graves Graves said reality is not always balanced, pointing to the industry emphasis on fact checking as an example that fair isn’t always balanced.

“It sort of suggests that there was a golden age when politicians didn’t lie as much and when people read the paper really closely and they were scanning for all the facts and making careful decisions. And we know that’s not true.” – Lucas Graves on why he is uncomfortable with the suggestion that we are in a  “post-truth” era

Blind Beliefs? Conspiracies, Hoaxes and Disinformation

Photo by Melissa Behling

Joanne Miller, a professor of political science at the University of Minnesota, also criticized the notion that we’re living in a post-truth era. She explained that human reasoning is not developed to identify the truth but rather to ensure our survival. She researchers what she calls a phenomena of losing side psychology: When a highly knowledgeable individual’s political party loses an election, she explained, they may become more distrustful of media and political institutions and become predisposed to believe conspiracy theories in an attempt to rationalize the loss.

How to build back public trust was a point of debate between Deborah Blum, a professor in MIT’s science writing program, and Charlie Sykes, a prominent conservative talk show host.

In recent years, Blum noted how science journalism has shifted to reporting the narrative supported by overwhelming scientific evidence, rather than giving equal balance to two sides, citing the Los Angels Times‘ decision to eliminate Op Eds rejecting climate change as one example.

But Sykes warned that it’s when there isn’t space for these discussions in mainstream media that people turn to alternative outlets like the Breitbart News Network where they can find content that validates their worldviews, leading to further fragmentation and mistrust.

“You can do the best reporting in the world, but unless you can find a way to restore that credibility, break through that chrysalis somehow, it won’t even register.“- Charlie Sykes on the importance of credibility in a highly partisan climate

Where Do We Go from Here? Solutions in an Allegedly Post-Truth Era

Photo by Melissa Behling

Michelle Ye Hee Lee of The Washington Post’s Fact Checker said she is a proponent of bringing fact checks to the audience in the spaces they’re already in. Lee said presenting fact-checks via Snapchat has been a successful tactic to reach younger audiences. She added that the Post’s fact-checking newsletter is the organization’s fastest growing newsletter as well, growing organically between reader shares. Lee’s takeaway? Be creative and reach people where they are – don’t expect them to find you.

At Stanford University, Dawn Garcia said Knight fellows are innovating solutions to major issues in journalism, addressing everything from challenges with data journalism, emerging technology, audience engagement and diversity, news ecosystems and business models.
Current journalism business models were of concern to Marty Kaiser, Senior Fellow of the Democracy Fellow, as well. But he said he sees hope in the changes he sees newsrooms making in response to financial pressures.

 

AP team accepts Shadid award

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The enslaved men interviewed wanted so badly to let their families know they were alive that they wanted reporters to use their names and faces.

But, the reporters knew their sources could be killed for talking.

This dilemma soon became how to best tell the story of slavery without endangering their sources.

“We had to make a decision for them, and whether we were going to put brave men in danger,” Robin McDowell, one of the reporters, said. “Do we take away power of the story that they so bravely chose to tell, and weaken it?”

McDowell and Martha Mendoza accepted Friday the 2016 Anthony Shadid Award for Journalism Ethics at a ceremony. Esther Htusan and Margie Mason were also part of the reporting team on “Seafood from Slaves,” which uncovered slavery within Southeast Asia’s fishing industry. The also was awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for in Public Service.

The Shadid award, which is presented by the Center for Journalism Ethics, each year recognizes stories that maintain high ethical standards while serving the public interest. The award is named in memory of Shadid, an alumni who died in Syria while reporting for the New York Times.

Shadid committee chair Jack Mitchell said the winning story exemplified careful, ethical journalism.

“Good journalism is journalism that worries about what stories will mean to those who are involved in the story,” he said.

Focusing on those involved in the story was central to the AP’s reporting. As the team told the stories of men who were kidnapped and tricked into slavery, they knew it was important to protect their sources. Mendoza said they called their editors and presented them with their limited options. They could not blur the faces because it is against the AP’s guideliness. They could use silhouette footage, which wouldn’t show the desperation of the men’s faces. Or, they could try to free their sources.

“The editors were rather swift, and said, ‘Well, that sounds like the best plan, do you think so? Yeah, that sounds like the best plan,’” Mendoza said. “I could hear the other reporters breathing across the line, and they were like ‘Uh, so guys, what do you know about freeing slaves?’”

The women then got in touch with contacts in immigration services, and freed the men who helped them tell their story.

The awareness created by the story has freed even more slaves, led to dozens of arrests, seized millions of dollars of seafood and alerted the U. S. Congress to loopholes in federal laws that have allowed slave produced seafood to end up on American plates.

While the story exposed corruption within the industry, there is still much to be done, according to McDowell.

“We’re very happy with the impact our story has had, but it hasn’t scratched the industry as a whole,” McDowell said. “On the corporate end, Whole Foods, Walmart, and Red Lobster have done little to nothing in response.”

Throughout writing the story, Mendoza said the team of reporters had many ethical conversations with their editors, as they were concerned whether the story was becoming one of advocacy journalism.

“When we went to our editors and said this might be happening, the answer was: ‘If you think there are slaves there you have a moral imperative to go look,’” Mendoza said.

While their editors decided it was ethical to advocate against human trafficking, they didn’t allow Mendoza to accept invitations to Congress or the Vatican. Accepting these invitations would put her in a position of advising policy, she said.

The impact of the story on the industry contributed to its Pulitzer Prize win last month. But, McDowell and Mendoza, both of whom had worked with Shadid at the Associated Press, said the this award meant more to them.

“You know, they say Pulitzer Prize is one of those things that goes on your obituary,” Mendoza said. “But fighting for ethics like this, in a company the size of ours is a discussion and a challenge, and it’s definitely what Anthony would be all about.”

Carly Schesel, originally from Chippewa Falls, is a sophomore double majoring in journalism and political science.

Education and race panel addresses timely ethical issues

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Nikole Hannah-Jones, a writer for New York Times Magazine, said it is ethically imperative that re-segregation of America schools should be on the radar of every education reporter in America.

“The ethical implication is an ethical failure,” Hannah-Jones said. “I don’t understand how one can write about education and not write about these racial issues.”

Hannah-Jones and other panelists at “Race, Ethnicity and Journalism Ethics” conference agreed April 29 that journalists have a responsibility to cover racial disparities and make the public aware about its problems.

The panel Hannah-Jones sat on was one of four panels that discussed the ethical obligations of news organizations to cover and engage with race. The theme chosen for the eighth annual conference of the Center for Journalism Ethics was particularly timely because of the racial issues and demonstrations on the UW-Madison campus during the past year.

Panelists and moderators argued that the traditional views of objectivity and fairness in covering racial issues is often problematic. Several panelists acknowledged that while it is impossible to be completely objective, reporters should go into stories aware of their own biases and try not to make up their mind about a story first.

Hannah-Jones said although racial issues can be an emotional topic, good reporting should be rooted in evidence. If a story is based on verifiable facts, no one can claim it is unfair, she said.

A student-led social media campaign in the past month that uses the moniker #TheRealUW shed light on the racism and discrimination minority students face and has received wider news media coverage.

Kiara Childs, a student of color at UW-Madison, said that these racial events on campus are traumatizing because they make minority students feel unwelcome in the place where they live and attend classes.

Childs said that reporters add to the problem by avoiding the truth when covering racial issues.

“I think some reporters have a romantic view of this university and don’t fully understand the depth of the terrible racial climate on campus,” Childs said. “Reporters have ethical codes to follow, but they also hold biases.”

Childs agreed with panelists who said that a good way for journalists to improve their coverage of racial dynamics is to do their research on race and inequality.

Lisa Gartner, who won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting at the Tampa Bay Times, said journalists should get out and talk to people who are affected by these issues.

Childs said Madison reporters can learn from #TheRealUW to understand the group’s mission the problems it’s trying to address.

The racial issues in education are real, and should not be dismissed by the news media, she said.

“Equality on this campus is important for all,” Childs said. “Reporters have a voice to work toward that.”

Maggie Baruffi, originally from Kenosha, is a junior at UW-Madison studying reporting and strategic communication. She is in Prof. Stephen Vaughn’s Intermediate Reporting class this Spring. 

Photo of Nikole Hannah-Jones by jentricolello.com.

Join us for live web streaming during the conference

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To find the live stream, choose the current panel from the schedule below.

8:50 Opening remarks
9 Keynote address
(not available for live streaming)		 Nikole Hannah-Jones New York Times Magazine
10 Panel — Representing Race: Language, Imagery, Sources and Issues for Journalists Sue Robinson, moderator UW-Madison SJMC
Henry Sanders Madison365
Patty Loew UW-Madison Life Sciences Communication
Alan Gomez USA Today
11:15 Panel — Education Matters: Covering Racial Dynamics and Examining Journalism’s Role Rachelle Winkle-Wagner, moderator UW-Madison Education Leadership and Policy Analysis
Sue Robinson UW-Madison SJMC
Nikole Hannah-Jones New York Times Magazine
Lisa Gartner Tampa Bay Times
12:15 Lunch
12:45 Shadid award presentation Jack Mitchell, Shadid committee chair UW-Madison SJMC
Nada Shadid, award presenter
Robin McDowell Associated Press
Martha Mendoza Associated Press
1:45 Panel — Questions of Justice: Crime, Inequality and News Media Hemant Shah, moderator UW-Madison SJMC
Katy Culver UW-Madison SJMC
Mike Koval Madison Police Department
Matt Braunginn Young, Gifted and Black
Jaweed Kaleem Los Angeles Times
3:15 Plenary Session — Tomorrow’s Work: Moving Forward on Race and Journalism Keith Woods, moderator NPR
Maria Len-Rios University of Georgia
Brent Jones USA Today
4:30 Closing remarks

Please join us online today for a full complement of live coverage of the conference, including:

  • streaming video
  • Twitter and Instagram feed at #uwethics
  • opportunity to ask questions of the panels
  • links and other resources
  • archival coverage of past conferences

View the program book

Newsroom diversification not silver-bullet solution

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While diversifying the newsroom, or hiring more journalists of color, is a frequently suggested remedy and a positive first step to better coverage of race and ethnicity issues by mainstream journalists, Sue Robinson said it is not enough.

Robinson, a former journalist and University of Wisconsin-Madison professor, studies media discourse around race and ethnicity, especially focusing on conversations about inequalities.

“We have to get more representation of all our communities in newsrooms so that all of our communities have a bigger voice in our mainstream dialogues,” she said. “That said, the danger with merely relying on hiring more people of color is that it absolves everybody else in the newsroom from doing the hard work of understanding their own implicit biases and privilege.”

Additionally, relying on newsroom diversification can create token race reporters, she said.

“They get pigeon-holed into writing about issues of race for a lot of different reasons, some of which are very logistical,” she said. “At the same time, those journalists might want to be an education reporter or they might want to do politics. It ends up almost being racist because you discount the full experience that those people might have.”

On April 29, the final panel at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Journalism Ethics’ Conference on Race, Ethnicity and Journalism Ethics will begin to address next steps. What are some solutions? And how can they be implemented?

But even if diversifying the newsroom were a silver bullet solution, implementing such changes is not without challenges.

For Phil Brinkman, city editor at the Wisconsin State Journal, it starts in the hiring pool.

“We feel the real lack of diversity in our newsroom,” he said. “We live in a very white community, a very white state and we’re just not getting the candidate pools that we need.”

The State Journal has received only a handful of applications from journalists of color over the last couple of years, he said, noting that it will take a combined effort from both newsrooms and journalism schools.

“I would like to do whatever we can to increase our hiring of candidates of color, but j-schools need to make that a priority, too,” he said. “We need a better pipeline.”

Jordan Gaines, UW-Madison senior and editor of the Black Voice predicts that relatively non-diverse cities do not appeal to young journalists of color who are applying for jobs.

“I think the obvious considerations when applying are probably quality of city and then the presence of other people of color,” she said. “And it’s not that realistic for Madison.”

Fortunately, Gaines sees other areas where local outlets could enhance coverage.

“The big one that I think of is diversifying the people journalists contact,” she said. “A lot of times, we have these go-to folks, especially when we’re talking about marginalized communities. Because of that we don’t have intersectional people that we talk to who represent different types of identities.”

Journalists will need to do a better job of getting into communities to expand this contact list, she said.

In addition to diversifying the workforce and sourcing, Robinson said the responsibility rests on individual awareness.

“Most newsrooms do a diversity training – and that’s good. That’s all really good,” she said. “But I also think that we need privilege training beyond that. We need the personal understanding of one’s own role in the complicitness of reinforcing white supremacy within structures that are in place today.”

But it can’t stop after the workshop name tags are tossed. The training and discussion must be built into newsroom practice and culture more permanently, she said.

“It has to be ongoing, so that it’s not just a yearly workshop, but an ongoing conversation that happens in the newsroom,” she said. “Just like how many sources you need, how many inches you have and what the deadline is. It has to be part of that structure.”

Conversations on representation can benefit, learn from self-representation

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Patty Loew, University of Wisconsin-Madison professor, said discussion about how journalism can better represent communities of color often leaves out those who are already using media forms to self-represent.

“Mainstream media doesn’t always stop to ask how communities of color are self-representing,” she said. “Many are making space to create their own representations.”

Loew is a professor in the Department of Life Sciences Communication and affiliated with American Indian Studies.

When journalists try to address misrepresentation and misguided reporting on communities of color, this discussion is often geared toward how the professional industry, predominantly white, can do a better job of reporting, she said.

But, the Native youth she works with through the Tribal Youth Media Initiative produce their own work. Loew and the initiative coordinate with Don Stanley, Life Sciences Communication faculty associate.

“Tribal Youth Media gives youth the chance to represent themselves through digital storytelling,” Loew said. “It’s a really powerful thing to be apart of.”

The initiative brings together a team of graduate students who work with Native American teens to produce video stories about their tribes and communities during the summer. The project runs annually and involves week-long instruction on digital media production.

Ahpahnae Thomas, a junior at Mellen (Wis.) High School participated in the program several times.

“We go out and sort of have a lot of adventures in the wild around the Bad River Reservation,” he said. “Then we make short videos about things we experience.”

Participants like Ahpahnae not only shape content, but they also have the opportunity to interact with media forms they are passionate about.

“With the video production, we had to add music to it, and we created our own music,” Ahpahnae said. “That’s what I like to do. That’s my thing.”

Shania and Ahpahnae

Ahpahnae Thomas composes music while Shania Jackson films. Photo courtesy Patty Loew

Since its inception, the Tribal Youth Initiative and its participants have produced award-winning films which feature community-generated representations of Native communities.

Ahpahnae’s mother, Jean Hahn-Thomas, had the opportunity to chaperone one film festival invitation. She accompanied members of the Tribal Youth Media Initiative in 2013 to Arizona where the participated in the Human Rights Film Festival at Arizona State University, as well as other local showings.

The film featured the natural wildlife that would be affected by the construction of a proposed four and a half mile open pit iron ore mine in Northern Wisconsin, located directly over the Bad River Watershed.

The question and answer session following a showing at a local Arizona school stuck with Hahn-Thomas, in particular.

“Because in Arizona there is a lack of water, the students in the audience were interested in what they could do help to stop the mine from going up which would have polluted the water and dried up the artesian wells,” she said. “It was really good for the kids – both those in the audience and those from Wisconsin.”

The mine project was put on hold in spring of 2015.

“This project shows the kids that you can, with simple things, produce something that people will care about, and it just gives them a completely different perspective on what they can do,” Hahn-Thomas said. “And no matter what the outcome of their short video is, it’s theirs. It’s what they put into it.”

The Tribal Youth Media Initiative is just one of many organizations that are amplifying  the self-representation of communities of color.

Simpson Street Free Press on Madison’s South Side is a neighborhood-based nonprofit that trains young students, often from diverse backgrounds, in journalism. Young writers have the opportunity to write from their own experiences and interests.

Similarly, Lussier Community Education Center is working with University of Wisconsin-Madison journalism students to development and launch a low-power, community FM radio station at 95.5 and online, which will in part highlight the experiences and interests of communities of color on Madison’s west side.

Among others, these organizations are participating in recent conversations on representation of race in the media – not necessarily through letters to the editor, but through the creation of their own media content. And while this does not address all of the work that must be done in media industries to better represent communities of color, it is one step that should be recognized.

“It was nice to be able to share what we learned and have other people see things from our perspective – a different view from our situation,” Thomas said. “And I know was it was really fun to do.”

Loew will appear on a panel addressing media representations of race and ethnicity during a journalism ethics conference held by University of Wisconsin-Madison. Henry Sanders of Madison 365 and will also speak on the panel, moderated by University of Wisconsin-Madison Assistant Professor Lindsay Palmer. USA Today writer Alan Gomez will also join the panel.

Nikole Hannah-Jones to address conference

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Award-winning New York Times Magazine journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones will deliver the keynote address to open the 2016 Center for Journalism Ethics conference at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on April 29.

This year’s conference focuses on “Race, Ethnicity and Journalism Ethics.” The event runs from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Union South on the UW-Madison campus. The keynote will begin at 9 a.m. Registration is now open at the center’s website. The cost for early bird registrants is $20, including a buffet lunch, but increases to $25 April 9. Registration is free for all students and UW-Madison faculty and staff.

Hannah-Jones has reported on the history of racism and inequality and its legacy in modern policies that have maintained racial injustice. She has written personal reports on the black experience in America to offer a case for greater equality.

Earlier this spring, she earned a George Polk Award for radio reporting for “The Problem We All Live With,” broadcast on “This American Life.” For that story, she investigated the Normandy School District in Missouri, from which Michael Brown had graduated just before he was killed in nearby Ferguson. The two-part series examines school integration and the impact of resistance by largely white communities.

Building on the keynote, four panels will address the ethical challenges journalists face when dealing directly and indirectly with issues of race and ethnicity. Session topics will include:

  • Journalistic representations of race: language, imagery, sources and their effects
  • Journalism ethics and race in education coverage
  • Journalism ethics and race in criminal justice coverage
  • Solutions to the issues raised throughout the conference

“We’re looking forward to a challenging, stimulating and productive day of candid discussion,” Professor Robert Drechsel, director of the center, says. “Whether the context is politics, criminal justice, education, sports, the economy or national security, journalism inherently plays a critical role in framing issues and images of race and ethnicity for the public. The question is not whether journalism does this, but how and with what impact.”

Also during the conference, the Anthony Shadid Award for Journalism Ethics will be presented to the Associated Press for its handling of ethical issues encountered in the reporting of a series of stories revealing the use of slave labor by the fishing industry in Southeast Asia. The stories resulted in the freeing of 2,000 slave laborers. Two of the reporters who did the stories will participate in a panel discussion of the ethical issues they faced and how they resolved them.

This is the eighth annual conference of the Center of Journalism Ethics, housed in UW-Madison’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Founded in 2008, the center’s mission is to foster vigorous debate about ethical practices in journalism, and provide a resource for producers, consumers and students of journalism.

 

Associated Press named winner of 2016 Anthony Shadid Award

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The Associated Press has won the 2016 Anthony Shadid Award for Journalism Ethics for reporting that resulted in the freeing of 2,000 slave laborers used by the fishing industry in Southeast Asia.

The award will be presented at the annual conference of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Journalism Ethics on April 29 in Madison by Nada Shadid, Anthony Shadid’s widow.

The center bestows the award annually in honor of Shadid, a Pulitzer Prize-winning UW-Madison journalism alumnus and foreign reporter for the Washington Post and The New York Times. He died in 2012 from health complications while reporting in Syria.

While investigating an Asian “slave island” that provides fish for the American market, AP reporters Martha Mendoza, Margie Mason, Robin McDowell and Esther Htusan realized that any slave who talked with them faced possible execution. The reporters and their editors decided to rescue their sources from the island before publishing the explosive story.

After accepting the award, Mendoza and McDowell will participate in a panel discussion focusing on how they wrestled with the ethical problems they confronted.

“There is nothing unusual about journalists protecting their sources from discovery,” Jack Mitchell, chair of the judging committee, said. “But journalists usually minimize involvement beyond that. The AP defied convention by taking responsibility for the welfare and safety of the slaves, who were willing to face death to tell their stories. The journalists got the men to safety before publishing the stories.”

The AP team was chosen for the award over four other finalists who also demonstrated exceptional commitment to ethical journalism last year. They were:

The Center for Journalism Ethics will honor the AP team at its conference, which focuses on “Race, Ethnicity and Journalism Ethics” this year. The day-long event will begin at 8:30 a.m. at Union South on the UW-Madison campus. It will include panels devoted to ethical issues in representations of race, covering education and criminal justice, and a discussion of how journalism can improve such coverage. Award-winning New York Times Magazine reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones will deliver the keynote address.

Online registration is now open for the ethics conference

Conference tomorrow: Find schedule here

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Online registration for the conference is now closed. But, we will accept registration at the door. The registration desk will be near the doors of the Varsity Rooms of Union South’s second floor.

The conference runs from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 29 in Union South, Madison, Wisconsin.

The cost is $25, and includes lunch.

The full program booklet is available.

Registration for all students and UW-Madison faculty/staff is free. Email questions to the Center at ethics@journalism.wisc.edu.

8:30 Breakfast and registration
8:50 Opening remarks
9 Keynote address Nikole Hannah-Jones New York Times Magazine
10 Panel — Representing Race: Language, Imagery, Sources and Issues for Journalists Sue Robinson, moderator UW-Madison SJMC
Henry Sanders Madison365
Patty Loew UW-Madison Life Sciences Communication
Alan Gomez USA Today
11:15 Panel — Education Matters: Covering Racial Dynamics and Examining Journalism’s Role Rachelle Winkle-Wagner, moderator UW-Madison Education Leadership and Policy Analysis
Sue Robinson UW-Madison SJMC
Nikole Hannah-Jones New York Times Magazine
Lisa Gartner Tampa Bay Times
12:15 Lunch
12:45 Shadid award presentation Jack Mitchell, Shadid committee chair UW-Madison SJMC
Nada Shadid, award presenter
Robin McDowell Associated Press
Martha Mendoza Associated Press
1:45 Panel — Questions of Justice: Crime, Inequality and News Media Hemant Shah, moderator UW-Madison SJMC
Katy Culver UW-Madison SJMC
Mike Koval Madison Police Department
Matt Braunginn Young, Gifted and Black
Jaweed Kaleem Los Angeles Times
3:15 Plenary Session — Tomorrow’s Work: Moving Forward on Race and Journalism Keith Woods, moderator NPR
Maria Len-Rios University of Georgia
Brent Jones USA Today
4:30 Closing remarks