(JACKSON, Miss.) – Jackson State University’s School of Journalism and Media Studies will host Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) and The Center of Investigative Reporting for a Watchdog journalism workshop on Feb. 11-12, 2017 at the Mississippi e-Center @ JSU.
The two-day workshop is open to reporters, editors, and producers from small, midsize and large publications, TV, radio stations, Web-only news sites and news blogs. Freelancers, students and journalism educators also are encouraged to attend.
IRE will offer several of its core sessions, designed to improve your ability to find information on the Web quickly, point you to critical documents and data for more depth in daily work and help you produce quick-hit enterprise stories. Workshop sessions will also give tips on how to negotiate for records, get sources to open up and much more.
At the afternoon session, Reporting on Injustice, the speaker is The Clarion-Ledger Investigative Reporter Jerry Mitchell, a 2009 MacArthur fellow, who helped put four KKK members and a suspected serial killer behind bars.
On Sunday, Feb. 12, attendees can get hands-on training in computer-assisted reporting. Learn how to use Excel, a powerful electronic spreadsheet for deadline and beat reporting on budgets, salaries, election data and more. Also, learn how to dig deeper using the Internet and find valuable datasets for your stories.
“The School of Journalism and Media Studies is pleased to host IRE and encourages local and statewide media to attend this important workshop,” said Elayne H. Anthony, SJMS Dean. “We consider it a great opportunity to expose our faculty and students to in-depth, technology-assisted reporting techniques and to network with veteran journalists who take investigative reporting seriously.”