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JournalismCharting a Path: How to Bring Diverse Approaches to Investigative Projects
How can journalists of color advance their ideas for in-depth work? What obstacles do they face in helping their newsrooms develop stories for and about communities that may be marginalized? What different perspectives and kinds of stories could journalists of color bring? In “Charting a Path: How to Bring Diverse Approaches to Investigative Projects,” a recent webinar co-sponsored by IRW, Dwayne Bray of ESPN led a panel discussion about how young professionals and seasoned pros continue to wrestle with such questions.
“Because of the kind of racial reckoning we see in the newsroom we need more discussions about the culture in newsrooms. …There has to be a constant pressure on the managers to recognize the importance of the diverse voices,” said Dorothy Tucker, investigative reporter at WBBM-TV in Chicago and president of the National Association of Black Journalists.
Tucker was joined on the panel by Robert Klemko of The Washington Post and Alexia Fernandez Campbell of The Center for Public Integrity (and an IRW alum).
The School of Communication’s incoming dean, Sam Fulwood, opened the program, noting from his vantage as a journalist for nearly 30 years and as senior fellow and vice president of race and equity at the Center for American Progress, “the conversation we are having tonight is absolutely vital.”
In addition to students from American University and Morgan State University, event participants included early-career journalists, writers and communicators in other fields, academics and members of the public from around the world. Small-group mentoring sessions to pitch story ideas and seek career advice followed the panel discussion.
“Charting a Path” was co-sponsored by AU’s journalism division, the Investigative Reporting Workshop, and Morgan State University’s School of Global Journalism and Communication with support from SOC’s RACE Matters Initiative.
