Category: Webinar

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Ethics Week Webinar

Introduction to Ethics Week

7 p.m. EDT, Monday April 24

https://youtu.be/91IR0VceEf0

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_th1d3iJ1QK-8prrrQFJrcQ 

This event will begin with a brief discussion of the history and purpose of this year’s edition of Ethics Week, led by Fred Brown, who proposed the idea 25 years ago when he was SPJ’s immediate past president, and Rod Hicks, SPJ director of ethics and diversity. That will be followed by a presentation led by Don Colacino, a documentarian who has partnered with SPJ to produce his “Trusted Sources” film. Then Brown, Hicks and Meredith Jordan, who is leading a self-certification.

Panelists:

Don Colacino is an independent filmmaker based in Colorado. He is currently in production on a feature-length documentary titled, Trusted Sources, about people working to reverse the decline of trust in news. Trusted Sources, produced in partnership with the Society of Professional Journalists, is targeted for nation-wide release in the spring of 2024. 

Meredith Jordan is executive director of the Public Alliance of Professional Journalists, an organization working toward the credentialing of journalists. She spent 25 years working for East Coast news organizations before moving to the West Coast to cover the movie industry. Her most recent book is Top Gun Memos: The Making and Legacy of an Iconic Movie, (Citation Press, 2022). 

Fred Brown is a former SPJ national president and Wells Memorial Key winner who currently heads SPJ’s Professional Standards and Ethics Committee. For most of his career, he was a political reporter, editor and columnist for The Denver Post. He also taught media ethics at the University of Denver and is the editor/author of SPJ’s media ethics textbook.

Rod Hicks is Director of Ethics and Diversity at the Society of Professional Journalists. Previously at SPJ, Rod was in a position created to address the issue of dwindling trust in the news media. As Journalist on Call, he conducted a six-month project in Casper, Wyoming, where he met regularly with a group of people skeptical about the news, they receive to better understand the root of their distrust. He wrote a report on the project that included recommendations for news organizations to address news consumers’ concerns.

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Ethics Week Webinar

Trust, Truth and SPJ

7 p.m. EDT, Wednesday, April 26

https://youtu.be/89ZaiV379Xo

Register here.

Poll after poll shows a steady decline of public trust in what used to be considered mainstream, reliable news media. A recent Gallup/Knight survey showed only 26% of Americans have a favorable opinion of the news media while 53% have a negative view. For this Ethics Week program, SPJ presents a discussion on multiple efforts to restore the public’s trust in real journalism, and how the Society of Professional Journalists has been an inspiration and now a partner in these efforts.

Panelists:

Sally Lehrman, an SPJ Wells Memorial Key winner, founded and is CEO of the Trust Project, an international coalition she begin building in 2014. It has a three-step process to help responsible media outlets distinguish themselves from the myriad of information sources available to the public. She held the Knight-Ridder Chair in Journalism in the Public Interest at Santa Clara University from 2008 to 2013 and was a member of the boards of both SPJ and its Foundation. She is a freelance writer and book author.  

Beth Potter, U.S. regional manager of the Journalism Trust Initiative, recently was awarded her Ph.D. from the University of Colorado and serves on the board of the SPJ Colorado Pro Chapter. The JTI was created in 2019 by Reporters Without Borders and has a process involving self-assessment, disclosure and external audit for media to establish their credibility. Potter has worked in journalism at levels from reporter to publisher, and as a journalism educator. 

Lynn Walsh, the 2016-17 national president of SPJ, is assistant director of Trusting News, which works with news organizations to help the public understand how journalism is supposed to work, explaining news processes, coverage goals and journalism ethics. Walsh is an Emmy Award-winning journalist and investigative reporter who has also been active in SPJ’s Freedom of Information and ethics committees. Most recently, she led the NBC Investigates and NBC 7 Responds teams at San Diego’s KNSD-TV.

Moderator:

Fred Brown is a former SPJ national president and Wells Memorial Key winner who currently heads SPJ’s Professional Standards and Ethics Committee. For most of his career, he was a political reporter, editor and columnist for The Denver Post. He also taught media ethics at the University of Denver and is the editor/author of SPJ’s media ethics textbook.

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Ethics Week Webinar

What Generative AI means For Journalists and Journalism

7 p.m. EDT, Thursday, April 27

https://youtu.be/DwHjCyIRvCU

Register here.

As more news organizations are using and sharing how they use artificial intelligence, questions are being raised what this means for journalists and journalism ethics. As a part of SPJ Ethics Week, our panel of experts will discuss how generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT and DALLE-E, can be used by journalists to assist in news gathering and production, while examining the potential pitfalls.

Panelists:

Aimee Rinehart is local news AI program manager for The Associated Press. She works with local newsrooms on AI solutions in news gathering, production and distribution.

Joe Amditis is assistant director of products and events at the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University. He is the author of the “Beginner’s prompt handbook: ChatGPT for local news publishers” and has spoken extensively about applying GenAI in newsrooms.

Moderator:

Eric Wishart is standards and ethics editor of the AFP news agency and a member of SPJ’s Professional Standards and Ethics Committee. He currently is drafting ethical guidelines for the use of AI in the AFP’s newsrooms.

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Ethics Week Webinar

Ethics Open Forum

7 p.m. EDT, Saturday April 29

https://youtu.be/gr01zb7P_xk

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_dSJw6IzsQfuYAnpDlWbUBg

Members of the SPJ Professional Standards and Ethics Committee will be on hand to answer any questions you may have about ethical dilemmas you’re facing, the committee’s goals, the SPJ Code of Ethics or whatever’s on your mind that has to do with the ethics of gathering, reporting and opining about the news.