Covering Justice: Reimagining the cops, crime, courts beats

Jul 31 2020

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Jul 31, 2020 at 11:30am

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Julie Moos

[email protected]

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Journalism Institute

As journalism re-examines its relationship with communities of color, mug shot galleries are coming down, questions are coming up about police sourcing, and newsrooms are assessing the role of justice coverage. 

Registration is now open for a program to advance this work by convening a conversation with practical suggestions for “Covering Justice: Reimagining the cops, crime, courts beats.” 

Please join moderator Michael Days of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Libor Jany of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and Jamiles Lartey of the Marshall Project for this program, co-hosted by the National Press Club Journalism Institute and the News Leaders Association, on July 31, from 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. EDT. 

The conversation will help journalists and the public understand: 

  • Daily decisions newsrooms could make differently, including the use of suspect descriptions, mug shots, neutralizing language like ‘officer-involved shootings,’ or coded language like ‘unarmed black man’ 
  • Short-term considerations, for example eliminating the crime blotter, explaining how police are funded, what it means to ‘abolish’ or ‘defund’ police, and what community-centered justice reporting and justice narratives would look like  
  • Long-term questions of who the audience is for justice coverage, whose authority we seek/trust, how we can re-envision routines and what we should be tracking & investigating, including how often police are asked to address mental-health issues or homelessness or other social challenges that have been criminalized; and the business opportunity and cost of changing justice coverage. 

The National Press Club Journalism Institute has added weekly programming, a daily writing group, and other support for journalists since March, and has waived registration fees for everything due to the COVID-19 pandemic.