The third and final day of the Excellence in Journalism saw a packed audience for the “Say This, Not That. Writing Ethically and Inclusively“ panel.
The hour-long session was led by outgoing RTDNA Chair Scott Libin, SPJ’s Ivette Davila-Richards and incoming RTDNA chair and WLRN-FM’s news director Terrence Shepherd.
The panel covered what it takes to write for diverse voices in an accurate and accepting manner. The interactive workshop had journalists from various backgrounds and organizations discuss the various sides of using terms such as “officer-involved shooting,” “die by suicide,” “cisgendered.”
Using case studies from news publications, the speakers analyzed steps which can be adopted to increase awareness about an inclusive media.
Speaking about his experience, Libin said, “What I learned from this group is that this is a topic that deserves our attention. It’s not one with easy answers. Reasonable people can disagree about the specifics, but we all ought to be having these conversations in our newsrooms and in our classrooms.”