Happy New Year! It’s time for the next SPJ freelance lunch.
Jan. 24 at the National Press Club at noon.
Please contact Stephenie for more information or to RSVP.
SPJ/LA to explore the give-and-take between journalists and PIOs
Government agencies bring on public information officers to make sure critical information reaches the public. But for those PIOs, can the obligation to serve their agency run counter to their responsibility to the public?
SPJ/LA will explore those and other issues on Thursday during the virtual panel “Just Doing My Job: Protecting the Agency vs. Serving the Public.”
The panel, which begins at 7 p.m.(PT), will feature journalists and public affairs experts from across the region.
The event will be moderated by Ben Davis, journalism professor at Cal State, Northridge. Appearing with him are:
- Lisa Derderian, Public Information Officer, City of Pasadena
- Susan Hirasuna, Anchor/Reporter, FOX 11
- Claudia Peschiutta, Daily News Editor, KPCC-FM
- Kerri Webb, Director of Public Information and Government Relations, El Camino College
For more information, contact Nathan Solis at njsolis@gmail.com.
To RSVP for the event, please click here by 4:00pm (PT) on Thursday, March 3.
Register HERE for this online session.
America’s public schools are coming under unusually strong attention from the general public — scrutiny communities typically rely on journalists to provide.
The issues are as disparate as masking mandates and COVID-19 testing; decisions around the spending of federal pandemic relief funds; the pros and cons of virtual vs. in-person learning; gun threats; and a rising trend of lawmakers and parents’ demanding that schoolchildren not be taught certain subjects such as human sexuality and the history of racism.
Journalists face multiple barriers, many government- or district-imposed, to covering these complex topics. Practices like filtering all interviews through public information officers seriously impairs journalists’ ability to cover these weighty subjects, while prohibiting teachers, school staff and other key education officials from sharing their stories. Add in policies that limit access to key education-related data-sets, and answering the public’s questions in a timely, thoughtful, and detailed manner becomes exceedingly difficult.
In honor of Sunshine Week, expert panelists will explore the impact of these government restrictions on press coverage of public schools and how to work around them. Produced by the Society of Professional Journalists and the National Press Club Journalism Institute, the discussion will offer strategies and tools to overcome these barriers.
Panelists include:
– Eva-Marie Ayala, Education Lab editor for The Dallas Morning News
– Frank LoMonte, professor at the University of Florida and counsel at CNN
– Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO
– Moderator: Delece Smith-Barrow, education editor at POLITICO
Tickets
The Summit itself is free to attend and largely virtual.
The Hollywood Creative Lab is virtual and free to attend.
Tickets are needed to watch whistlebower-related films, which are shown daily
TICKET AVAILABLE: Click HERE
Overall website
Partial Schedule
Monday July 25
9:00 Plenary: Frank Serpico, former New York City detective
10:00 Continued systemic discrimination at U.S. Department of Agriculture
11:00 Congressional year of truth for whistleblower legislation (Government Accountability Project)
12:00 The perils of public information officers (Society of Professional Journalists – DC Chapter)
1:00 Global guardianship abuse
Tuesday July 26
9:00 Government whistleblowing, scientific integrity and the environment (PEER — Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility)
10:00 The EEOC needs Rehabilitation
11:00 Working with the Office of Special Council (Government Accountability Project)
12:00 Guilty of journalism: The political case against Julian Assange (Project Censored)
1:00 Righting the wrongs of a ‘shadow government’ (Justice Integrity Project)
Wednesday July 27
9:00 Hollywood Pitch Lab (Day 1)
10:00 Screenplay contest announcement
Thursday July 28
9:00 Hollywood Pitch Lab (Day 2)
10:00 Breakout sessions
Friday July 29 – being held on Capitol Hill
9:00 Closing Plenary
10:00 Hollywood creative lab pitch contest (online)
10:00 Martha Mitchell in memoriam
11:00 Detailing the whistleblower story on film (African American Women in Cinema)
12:00 Working more effectively with Congress (Government Accountability Project)
Apply HERE.
Report for America (RFA) helps local newsrooms report on under-covered issues and communities by sending early-career and mid-to-late-career reporters and photographers to newsrooms throughout the country. As an RFA Corps Member, you’ll be a part of a movement to strengthen communities—and our democracy—through local journalism that is truthful, fair, fearless, and smart.
RFA is a two-year program, with an optional third year. Each service year begins on July 10 and runs through July 9. We currently have 300 reporters and photographers in 200 newsrooms serving communities across the country. We are seeking talented, service-minded journalists and photographers to join our reporting corps. Applications are now open for 55+ journalism positions. Check out our interactive database of job openings, newsrooms, and beats here and read the FAQs to make sure you are a good fit for our program. Because of the immediate impact candidates are expected to have in newsroom settings, corps member applicants should have a minimum of 1-3 years of local news experience. Recent graduates may apply if they’ve had local newsroom internships or journalism leadership experience in college.
Report for America is committed to equity, diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
Apply HERE.
The Global Investigative Journalism Conference (GIJC) is the premier international gathering of investigative and data journalists, held once every two years. In 2023, the conference will be held in Gothenburg, Sweden, from September 19 to 22, and is being co-hosted by GIJN, the Fojo Media Institute at Linnaeus University, and Föreningen Grävande Journalister, Sweden’s national association of investigative journalists. The conference venue is the world-class Swedish Exhibition & Congress Centre.
GIJC23 will feature over 150 state-of-the-art panels, workshops, and networking sessions, from cross-border collaboration and online searching to advanced data analysis. You’ll find special tracks on climate change, the threat to democracy, data journalism, crime and corruption, teaching and training, and sustainability strategies — plus the latest security tips and a chance to network and collaborate with your colleagues from 100 countries. Here’s where you can learn from the best in the field and return home with sharpened skills and the latest tools and techniques.
With the support of our sponsors and partners, the conference is offering more than 150 fellowships to both established and promising journalists in developing and transitioning countries, and for journalists from disenfranchised communities, to participate in this prestigious event. Competition is keen, so you need to convince us that you will make great use of the training that GIJC23 offers.
Eligibility Criteria
- Open to full-time print, online, television, video, radio, documentary, and multimedia journalists in developing or transitioning countries;
- Experience in investigative or data journalism a plus;
- Sorry, Western journalists based overseas are not eligible. For a full list of eligible countries, please check out this link.
Fellowship Requirement
Following the conference, fellows are required to either produce a story directly related to #GIJC23 or give a presentation based on the knowledge you gained at #GIJC23 to your colleagues or the journalism community at-large. Detailed guidelines and examples here.
You’ll need a working knowledge of English, as the conference panels and workshops will be conducted in English. Please submit your fellowship application in English.
GIJC23 Fellowship Includes
- Round-trip airfare to Gothenburg, Sweden
- Hotel room for four nights
- Transport between Gothenburg-Landvetter Airport and the conference hotel
- Reception dinner
- Breakfast and lunch on conference days
- Award ceremony dinner
- Conference registration fee
NOTE: The fellowship does not include a per diem, visa fees, or transport to and from your home country airport. This is a training conference, and fellows are expected to pay for these costs.
APPLICATION DEADLINE: February 28, 2023. Successful fellows will be notified via email by May 1, 2023.
CHAPTER MEMBERS: Mark Your Calendar for an in-person gathering for the holiday season.
Join your SPJ DC Pro colleagues Tuesday, Dec. 5, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., at the National Press Club.
We’ll have a private meeting room, free snacks, cash bar. 🍷🍺
More info coming later.
Join the chapter and other journalists Friday, Oct. 4, at 5 p.m. to meet with 10 foreign journalists visiting the United States under the auspices of the World Press Institute. The gathering will be in the Cosgrove Lounge on the 14th floor of the National Press Club in downtown Washington (529 14th Street NW, 20045 near Metro Center station).
The DC chapter will provide some light snacks. Beverages will be available from a server, but you’ll pay for your own order.
The visiting journalists are coming from Brazil, Bulgaria, Finland, India, Italy, Kosovo, Nigeria, Peru, South Africa and Ukraine.
The World Press Institute, founded in 1961, has provided regular opportunities for journalists from around the world to visit the U.S. and compare notes with their American counterparts.
Please sign up for the event here.
Come celebrate the holiday season with your fellow members of the Washington, D.C., Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. We’ll also toast the near-arrival of the 234th anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights, our First Amendment birthdate.
We will provide the great New Orleans-style food — you just need to pay for anything you want to drink from the cash bar.
The Ragtime Restaurant is a 2–4-minute walk from the Court House Orange Line Metro station. You can’t get much more convenient than that.
We are aiming to grow our membership in these days when a strong, united voice from journalists committed to seeking truth and reporting it to the public is more important than ever. Bring a colleague who you think would be interested in joining.
This will be a great opportunity for chapter members to connect/re-connect, and for you to meet prospective members who may be our guests and tell them what membership means to you and why they should be part of our chapter and our mission. Spread the cheer, but also spread your enthusiasm for SPJ.
Sign up HERE to let us know you are coming.
Please note that you should respond using the form on the link above so we have your name and email address for any updates.