Amid collapsing newsroom budgets, rising disinformation and increasing hostility toward the press, journalists from SPJ’s Region 11 gathered for the first time in a decade at their regional conference to discuss future challenges and the stakes of modern journalism.
This year’s conference took place at the University of San Francisco and centered around the theme, “Reporting In Hostile Times.”
Attendees chose from 17 workshops, panels, and discussions.
The events provided invaluable insights on urgent issues in journalism, such as political threats to the press, the role of AI in the newsroom, immigration reporting and staying relevant in an ever-changing media landscape.
That urgency was front and center during the keynote panel, ‘Free Press Under Fire.’
“This administration does not view the press as having a role of criticizing and overseeing them,” said keynote speaker David Greene, a civil liberties director and senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
“They view the press as only legitimate when it’s praising them.”
That threat, speakers warned, is part of a larger effort to destabilize legal norms.
“We’re seeing a very planned and systematic attempt to dismantle the institutions that are the pillars of our democracy,” said Greene. “Journalism is just one of the institutions that is being attacked, and we are being attacked quite vigorously.”
Thomas Peele, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist and keynote speaker who was a keynote speaker at the conference said he encourages journalists to work hard and to not be afraid to knock on people’s doors
“ Make more phone calls, go to public meetings, don’t let people off the hook. Do the work, we need to show the work now,” he said.
Panelists throughout the conference stressed the importance of journalism, and emphasized how now more than ever one needs to act as a guardian and a voice for the public.
“The stronger our work is, the better protections we will have,” said Peele.
The panel emphasized the unique capacity for change that every journalist has.
“It’s time to stop thinking about what journalism can do for you,” Peele said, “and start thinking about what you can do for journalism.”
While panelists warned of hostility toward the press, conference attendees reflected on how institutions like SPJ create solidarity and support during turbulent times.
Assistant Professor Jordan Wirfs-Brock hosts Google tools training on Friday, May 2nd. (Photo by Adam Mimou)
“The newsroom of yesterday no longer exists,” said Janet Rae-Dupree, a freelance reporter at Unboxed Media, told SPJ News. However, she said the SPJ conference created a conducive environment for communication between journalists.
“Collaboration and camaraderie is critical to survive today,” Rae-Dupree said. “SPJ is a central focus as journalism has evolved — it lets a working journalist know they are not alone.”
According to Rae-Dupree, people have lost the ability to empathize, and journalists must help audiences understand perspectives beyond their own.
While attendees like Rae-Dupree shared their views about the journalism community, others attended tech workshops and put their focus toward evolving tools of the trade, and the risks they pose.
“Most journalists, including myself, don’t have enough granular information about how AI developments affect our work,” said Lyn Davidson, a freelance journalist for Salvage Media.
We need to stop treating every tech development as inherently positive and start critically examining how we cover AI, Davidson explained.
As thoughts about AI and press freedom churned, one thing became clear: The future of journalism lay in the hands of those holding on to their core mission.
“We need to tell stories that help people understand perspectives outside of their own worldview,” Davidson added.
“That’s how journalism survives, by staying human.”