Texas Association of Broadcasters
09/23/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/23/2024 11:42
Oct. 19 TAB Newsroom Workshop Investigative Reporting Panels – Techniques and Tools to Hold Government and the Powerful Accountable
posted on 9.23.2024
TAB's Southwest Broadcast Newsroom Workshop is set for Saturday, Oct. 19, at the Umphrey Lee Center on the SMU Campus in Dallas, with a packed day-long program for professional broadcast journalists.
Texas members of Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) will present three panels focusing on Open Records request basics; utilizing government data in spreadsheets for enterprise reporting; and telling those tough, non-visual stories that are data-based.
These sessions provide a fantastic opportunity for newsrooms to learn how to use the Texas Public Information Act to hold government, elected officials, and other powerful individuals accountable.
Presenters include IRE executive director Diana Fuentes, and longtime Texas investigative reporters Tayna Eiserer, WFAA-TV; Josh Hinkle, KXAN-TV; and Aparna Zalani, a former KTVT-TV investigative producer now working for CBS' Local News Innovation Lab. Eiserer, Hinkle, and Zalani have won numerous regional and national news awards for their investigative reporting.
Seeking Open Records will cover the basics of making requests, obstacles you may encounter from governmental agencies, and how to work around them. It features Fuentes and Hinkle, along with Tom Williams, a media-law and TPIA/TOMA attorney with TAB Associate member law firm Haynes Boone LLP. All three are board members of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas. As a bonus, Fuentes will equip attendees with a list of 20 records to request now to generate exceptional stories.
In the Visualizing the Data-Based Story session, Hinkle and Eiserer will tackle a frequent problem for broadcast newsrooms - having great data to impart an important story, but lacking visuals and sound to make it engaging and compelling. These veteran investigative journalists know how to work around this problem and will show others how to do it.
Have you wondered how investigative journalists turn government information contained in spreadsheets into great enterprise reporting? Veteran database reporting experts Fuentes and Zalani will show attendees how to do it in Spreadsheets 101, Mining Data for Stories. There are all kinds of data out there just waiting to be unlocked, deciphered, and utilized by your newsroom for innovative reporting!
Nationally known presenters Al Tompkins, Brendan Keefe, and Deborah Potter will also be presenting multiple sessions throughout the day-long workshop. The trio will explore AI's impact on the newsroom and newsgathering, best practices for interviewing, sharpening writing skills, covering election night and holding the elected accountable, as well as basic and advanced MMJ skills and tools.
One of Keefe's sessions, Tech Tools for Investigations and General Assignments, will outline great tech tools to assist in the newsgathering process as well as telling the story for broadcast, websites, and podcasts. Learn the latest cool tools that are out there for journalists.
There also are two legal-related workshop panels. One will focus on covering court proceedings and the justice system. Another will center on the Texas and federal law impacting newsgathering and will feature attorneys Emily Carlton and Marc Fuller with TAB's general counsel law firm, Jackson Walker LLP.
Questions? Contact TAB's Michael Schneider or call (512) 322-9944.