It’s Thad and Paloma from FAC’s newly expanded Press Education team. We wanted to let you know a few places you can find us in coming weeks and how to reach out if you want us to put on a workshop for your newsroom or organization.
We’re excited to be presenting workshops at journalism conferences in October to further our goal of making sure California journalists know government transparency laws and how to use them to create impactful reporting.
First, we’re bringing that mission to a national stage, hosting a panel discussion during Investigative Reporters and Editors’ fifth annual AccessFest on Oct. 9. Paloma will lead “Shining a Light on Immigration Enforcement at the State and Local Level,” a discussion of how to use state and local public records laws to inform immigration reporting. Joining her for the conversation will be reporters José Ignacio Casteñeda Perez, of Spotlight Delaware, Jill Castellano, of The Marshall Project, and Wendy Fry, of CalMatters.
We’re thrilled to partner with AccessFest, which is all-virtual by design and created with the goal of making investigative reporting training more accessible and affordable. For details on how to register to attend this discussion, as well dozens of other offerings over the three-day virtual event, click here.
We’re also putting on panels and workshops at both of California’s fall community college journalism conferences.
For the Journalism Association of Community College’s Southern California Regional Conference on Oct. 11, Paloma will moderate the keynote panel discussion, “Protest Coverage: Rights, Risks and Responsibilities,” at 9 a.m., featuring FAC Legal Director David Loy and Ryanne Mena, an award-winning journalist with Southern California News Group. Paloma will be putting on a public records workshop for conference attendees, as well. For information on registering for the conference, click here.
For the Journalism Association of Community College’s Northern California Regional Conference on Oct. 25, Thad will be involved in a couple of sessions at San Jose State University. First, he’ll be leading a workshop from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. on records-based reporting with some reporters and editors from The Citizen, Peralta Community College District’s student-run paper. Then, he’ll be moderating a conversation “Protest Coverage: Rights, Risks and Responsibilities” from 2:15 to 3:15 p.m., featuring FAC Senior Staff Attorney Aaron Field, veteran photojournalist Jose Fajardo and Annie Sciacca, a freelance journalist and Contra Costa College journalism professor who’s led workshops on protest coverage safety. For information on registering for the conference, click here.
We’re also planning a day of workshops in collaboration with the Coachella Valley Journalism Foundation for November, with sessions in Spanish and English. Reach out to us at education [at] firstamendmentcoalition.org if you are a Coachella Valley journalist and interested in attending.
We also continue to offer trainings and workshops based on our two recently released Reporter’s Field Guides, which offer detailed instructions on how to use California transparency laws to create in-depth reporting on immigration enforcement and police shootings. For more information on those — or other custom training opportunities for California newsrooms — click here. And stay tuned for additional Reporter’s Field Guides coming soon!
Your ed team,
Paloma & Thad