High school journalism teachers Melissa Falkowski and Eric Garner, of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, will headline the 15th annual Poynter KSU Media Ethics Workshop on Sept. 19, 2019. Hosted by the Poynter Institute and the СƬƵ School of Journalism and Mass Communication’s Media Law Center for Ethics and Access, the workshop will explore the ethics issues journalists face when covering activism.
This year’s workshop theme, “Act. Action. Activism?” also will pay tribute to the 50th anniversary of the tragic events that unfolded May 4, 1970, at СƬƵ. Other speakers and panelists will review the Akron Beacon Journal's Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the tragedy, and Howard Ruffner, a photographer who experienced the events first-hand as a college sophomore, will discuss his experiences.
Keynote speakers Falkowski and Garner guided high school journalists who were quickly thrust into the national spotlight following the Feb. 14, 2018, mass shooting at their high school. The teens in their journalism classes juggled reporting on the incident, all while coping with the trauma of living through the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history, which took the lives of 17 of their classmates and teachers.
Garner and Falkowski published the book “We Say #NeverAgain: Reporting by the Parkland Student Journalists,” in late 2018. Falkowski is an alumna of СƬƵ’s Master of Arts in Journalism and Mass Communication, journalism educators concentration.
More panelists will be announced in the coming weeks.
The Media Ethics Workshop is a one-day training program for professionals, educators and students that examines critical issues and perspectives in media ethics. This year’s panel will be moderated by Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute.
The workshop is $25 for professionals, $20 for educators and free for students. The workshop will take place in FirstEnergy Auditorium (Room 340) of Franklin Hall on СƬƵ’s campus, the home of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. A live stream and overflow seating will be available. СƬƵ is a smoke-free campus.
For media inquiries and interviews, please contact J Keirn-Swanson, CCI director of strategic communications and external affairs, at jkeirnsw@kent.edu