The Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison will host its 13th annual journalism ethics conference at the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery on Friday, April 29, in Madison. The conference is free, open to the public and made possible by generous sponsorships from craig newmark philanthropies and the Evjue Foundation.
Called “Centering Equity: Journalism, Ethics & a Just Future,” the conference will bring together news media professionals, non-profit news leaders, media innovators, academics, students and the public to address the ethical dimensions of covering inequity and injustice, as well as inequities within the field of journalism itself.
Ongoing crises in the United States and around the world are increasing and exposing inequities in housing, criminal justice, food security, employment, health care, voting access and more. Media organizations are also in a state of deep flux, with wealth and power concentrating in large news organizations, and local news organizations both weakening and reinventing themselves.
“We are in a critically important moment to dig deep into the inequities that plague our society and the role journalism can play in addressing them,” said Kathleen Bartzen Culver, James E. Burgess Chair in Journalism Ethics and director of the Center. “A key part of that discussion must be about equity within journalism itself – a look inward that is long overdue.”
Sewell Chan, editor in chief of the Texas Tribune, will deliver a keynote address titled “Can journalism bring about justice?” Expert panelists will also discuss issues such as covering inequities in systems, representing communities equitably, and the role of tech in driving inequity across a variety of sectors. A select group of news leaders will also provide their points of view on equity issues facing the media and its workplaces.
The Center for Journalism Ethics, housed in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at UW-Madison, provides an international hub for the examination of the role of professional and personal ethics in the pursuit of fair, accurate and principled journalism. The Center offers resources for journalists, educators, students and the public, including internationally recognized annual conferences exploring key issues in journalism.
craig newmark philanthropies supports groups that seek to defend values such as fairness, opportunity and respect and strengthen American democracy. The organization drives broad civic engagement by working to advance organizations focused on trustworthy journalism and the information ecosystem, voter protection, women in tech, and veterans and military families. Craig Newmark is the founder of craigslist.
The Evjue Foundation is the charitable arm of The Capital Times newspaper. Since its founding in the 1960s, the Foundation has made grants totaling more than $70 million to worthy educational, cultural and charitable organizations in the newspaper’s circulation area.
Registration is open and available here.
For more information, see the conference web page and/or contact Krista Eastman, administrator at the Center for Journalism Ethics, at krista.eastman@wisc.edu.
