Journalists
discuss media development
By Amy Cucinella
On-line Forty-Niner
The
Cal State Long Beach journalism department
is hosting its annual Journalism Day on
the fifth floor of the University Library
from 9 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. today.
“Everybody is welcome,” said Ron Milligan,
a CSULB journalism professor and the coordinator
of the event. “We encourage any well-informed
person interested in the media to attend.”
The theme of this year’s event is “Media
in a Changing World” and will feature a
keynote speaker, four moderated panel discussions,
an award ceremony and refreshments.
This format is different from past Journalism
Days, which were more often organized as
career fairs.
“We didn’t want the same thing year after
year. We wanted to raise this issue,
which journalists will be wrestling with
for a long time,” Milligan said. “We
will be discussing very serious and profound
issues about journalism in America today.”
The panels will be discussing the impact
of recent international affairs on American
journalism, especially in the field of ethics.
The different panel discussions, which are
each an hour long, will be on, “The Historical
Development of American News in a Changing
World,” “Multicultural Public Relations
in a Changing World,” “Journalism Ethics
in a Changing World” and “International
Law in a Changing World.”
Dan Bolton, a journalist, publisher and
chair of the Society of Professional Journalist’s
National Ethics Committee, will sit on the
ethics panel and plans to discuss American
media coverage of foreign affairs.
“We will explore the idea that American
journalists, at a time of American global
dominance, must better inform the public
of the political terrain and subtleties
of a world that both entices and threatens
our average citizens,” Bolton said.
Each panel will have four or five guest
speakers who come from various backgrounds
of expertise on the topic. The guest
panelists include a wide array of professions,
including an attorney, professors, editors,
publishers, new correspondents, reporters
and senior account executives. A faculty
member from the journalism department will
moderate each panel.
Larry Martinez, associate political science
professor and the only CSULB professor serving
as a panelist, will be speaking during the
international law panel about how changes
in cyberspace law are going to affect journalists
in their ability use technology such as
satellites and cellular devices. Martinez
is a professor in the political science
department and his area of expertise include
outer space and international law.
“This should be really interesting,” Martinez
said of the event. “The Iraq war has really
put journalists on the front line in more
ways than one.”
Martinez sees the event as an opportunity
for journalism and non-journalism students
alike to come together to promote media
literacy and disseminate information.
“The only way media literacy can improve
is if viewers demand changes and they can’t
do that without information,” Martinez said.
Traditionally most of the journalism students
are able to attend the event since all classes
in the department are cancelled for the
day.
Although the event is less career oriented
than in the past, students will still get
to personally meet the panelists, most of
who are involved in the media industry,
said Milligan. Networking opportunities
and helpful information about acquiring
a job in the media industry are additional
reasons why some students choose to attend
the event.
“This conference should give students an
idea about what the issues are in the industry
so that it can help them make career choices
and be prepared for questions they’ll face
in job interviews,” Martinez said.
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