Cheryl Thompson-Morton, Black Media Initiative Director for the Center for Community Media at the Craig Newmark School of Graduate Journalism, was the keynote speaker at our Better Gun Violence Reporting Workshop yesterday. Her talk was titled: Reimagining Gun Violence Reporting.
Ernest Owens, at right, is the president of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists, Editor at Large for Philadelphia Magazine and CEO of Ernest Media Empire, LLC. He hosted the event.
Nearly 60 Philadelphia TV news journalists, community leaders and other experts came together to imagine how we can lead the way in our city to advance the most ethical, empathetic and impactful reporting possible.
Featured presentations included:
• Journalism and Trauma: Yvonne Latty, Logan Center for Urban Investigative Reporting at Temple University
• Stories of Empathy and Love: Jos Duncan Asé, Love Now Media
• Reclaiming the Narrative: Maxayn Gooden & Oronde McClain, The Philadelphia Center for Gun Violence Reporting. Denise James of Love Now Media and Temple University Journalism moderated.
• Gun Violence Prevention Resources: Mensah Dean, The Trace
Workshop discussions, brainstorming, prototype development, pitches, voting and commitments were designed and facilitated by the team from The Better Lab.
Nearly 70 people were in attendance and primarily identified themselves as:
• 24 journalists, representing nearly every major Philadelphia TV and radio news organization, public media and community media
• 10 gun violence prevention advocates and other representatives from impacted communities
• 9 staffers and research partners from our Center
• 6 participants from major journalism support organizations
• 6 attendees from organizations that support our work
• 5 facilitators from the Better Lab
• 5 event staffers, and…
• 3 journalism educators
Numerous participants identified by multiple roles, including five who previously participated in our Credible Messenger Reporting Project.
We will report back in greater detail during the coming days and weeks but for now you can get a first glance at the gathering by checking our hashtag: #BGVR22
We are grateful to every attendee, partner and supporter but we especially want to thank the funders who made this workshop possible, including Spring Point Partners, The Stoneleigh Foundation and the Independence Public Media Foundation.
We also want to thank April Burks and everyone at Pink Social Strategies for event planning and production, the team from Kim Kooks catering, our hosts at the historic Wyck House, Garden and Farm, our social media manager Krystal Knapp and our reporting partners at Billy Penn, who will be following up soon.
Finally, we are grateful to the staff at CultureWorks Greater Philadelphia for their endless, prompt and responsive service and for always looking out for us.