Big news for some journalists on Monday was that Hillary Clinton Will Address the Joint Black And Latino Journalist Convention in DC starting tomorrow.
But the conference features a number of other panels and seminars that might be of particular interest to education journalists — as well as awards for great stories including several school-related ones.
In terms of panels, some of the most interesting include:
*Black and Brown Stories Through a Social Justice Lens: How to Cover Racial Justice Without Adding to Harmful Narratives (moderated by The Advancement Project’s Jennifer Farmer)
*Reporting on Race in America: Lessons from Local Newsrooms
*Expanding Educational Opportunities and Empowering Children and Families (moderated by NewsOne’s Roland Martin, sponsored by the Walton Foundation)
*Through Our Eyes: Views of Black Teachers (moderated by the Baltimore Sun’s Erica Green)
There are also several education-related stories that are finalists, including the above NPR segment This Great Teacher Abides By The Scout Law. Reported by Shereen Marisol (@RadioMirage), it was part of NPR Education’s 50 Great Teachers series.
Other finalists with an education angle include The Downfall of Chicago Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett’ (Lauren FitzPatrick & Dan Mihalopoulos Chicago Sun-Times), Can Cities End the School-to-Prison Pipeline? (Marcus Harrison Green YES! Magazine), The Problem We All Live With (Nikole Hannah-Jones This American Life), The Re-Education of New Orleans (Education Week), The Detroit Graduates (Kassie Bracken, Fabrizio Costantini, Eugene Yi, Justine Simons, Danny DeBelius The New York Times).
See the full lists: 2016 NAHJ Journalism Awards Finalists and National Association of Black Journalists.
As you may recall from this spring’s EWA survey of 3,167 education journalists (of whom roughly 400 responded), 22 percent of education journalists is nonwhite, compared with 9 percent for the profession at large. “The typical American education journalist is a 36-year-old white female with 11 years in journalism.”
If they’re smart, editors and others looking for journalism talent will be recruiting at the event. Like many other beats, education journalism has a serious diversity issue. But it’s made worse because, unlike other beats, education coverage often focuses on communities of color.
Journalists of color including Nikole Hannah-Jones and SF State’s Jon Funabiki have talked about the need for more education journalists of color. Observers including most recently L’Heureux Lewis-McCoy have highlighted the issue of parents and students of color being left out of media coverage of schools.
Related posts:
Just How White Is Education Journalism?
Inequality Project Needs More School Stories & Contributors Of Color.
Efforts To Recruit More Journalists Of Color (To Cover Education).
Nikole Hannah-Jones: Lack Of Diversity Skews School Coverage.
