Excellence in Journalism was held in New Orleans, La. from Sep. 18 to 20. Some of the sponsors were Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) and Native American Journalism Association.
Upon the first day of the conference, many guests arrived to get a jump start in town. Since the conference was held in New Orleans, it was held at the Sheraton New Orleans hotel. The hotel sat in a location to accompany guests to near-by sites, such as Bourbon Street in The French Quarter.
On the first day, each guest had to check-in to receive their SPJ name badge, program and carry-on bag before getting started with the first session. SPJ sponsored an app for the event so that every attendee could download it and stay up to part to find out where different sessions were being held throughout the day.
One of the first sessions “How Well Does Media Cover Mass Murders?” spoke about the seriousness of shootings that have taken place around the world and if journalists cover it well. This was a unique session as it dug deep with a conversation involving the father of a victim who died during a 2012 shooting in Aurora, Colo. The father of the victim said that when the news broke, it felt more like entertainment than coverage by journalists.
The moderator for this session then asked the panel how well should journalists handle situations like this. One of the panelists suggested that when breaking news happens, act immune to it. That journalists must remember to be mature when it comes to responsible coverage and irresponsible coverage. And lastly, a journalist should not always act like one, but put your mindset inside of a human when covering stories like these, refer to the code of ethics.
Session two “Free Newsroom Tools for Taming the Real-Time Internet” was about useful tools that journalists can use in their field of work. When there are times when breaking news happens, platforms like Banjo, Slack and Nuzzel can be a great help. If platforms like Twitter or Facebook were to crash, those other sites would be useful to stay connected as news happens. For example, if a homicide happened where journalists will not be allowed on the scene, Banjo will map the location and rewind details of what happened, hours prior. This feature is mostly used by investigative journalists.
Session three was “Multi-Generational Newsrooms: How They Work/Should Work” and it spoke about recent college grads working alongside seasoned journalists. Some good highlights from this session were how young people do not feel the need to help a seasoned journalist with new technologies. Seasoned journalists feel that young people should share their skills with them, being that they are millennials. Also, young people like to do their research on the phone instead of going out doing facetime reporting.
Another idea addressed was that most millennials get hired to work a decent job, then want holiday time off to spend with their family whereas seasoned journalists know that is not part of the job description. To bring a better atmosphere with Generation X and millennials, it would be best to create staff skills, explore those skills and encourage mentoring.
Excellence in Journalism was a great conference for present and seasoned journalists. Everyone should be mindful of what it takes to be a journalist, which requires dedication around the clock with a great outcome of work.
