October 17th, 2025 • SPJ/MediaFest25
Watch Out For Flying Candy: The Basics of Newsworthiness
Students revisited the basics of newsworthiness with a twist — don’t get hit by the flying candy. Tammy Merret, professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, shared tips on news reporting for beginner journalists called “Candy is dandy! What IS news?” at MediaFest 25.
October 17th, 2025 • SPJ/MediaFest25
‘There’s No Reason Why You Can’t Do It’: How To Break Big Stories
Breaking big stories requires care and attention that is crucial to the work of a journalist — but being the journalist to break a big story requires the same care and attention as the story itself. Pierre Thomas, senior justice correspondent at ABC, shared his expertise in the panel “Breaking big stories” at MediaFest 25.
October 17th, 2025 • SPJ/MediaFest25
How to cover events as a photojournalist
Photographers and photojournalists operate in similar ways, but there is a critical difference — talking to people. Greg A. Cooper, assistant professor of photojournalism and photo editor at Eastern Illinois University, delivered a panel full of technical information for the different types of news coverage titled “Best Practices: Photojournalism” at MediaFest 25.
October 17th, 2025 • SPJ/MediaFest25
Safety in international reporting: overlooked but critical
Safety is a hot topic in international reporting, but for freelance international reporters, safety is especially critical. Jessica Jerreat, Voice of America’s (VOA) press freedom editor and Eric Philips, former safety adviser for VOA, dissected the importance of safe international reporting during a MediaFest 25 panel “Writing Beyond Borders: How to break into international publications.”
October 16th, 2025 • SPJ/MediaFest25
Building Skills to Become a Legal Reporter
Covering the law can provide valuable information to the public but you need certain skills to be successful. It would help if you channel your inner Liam Neeson, according to Katelyn Polantz from CNN. At a panel on “Covering Courts: Trial and Error” at MediaFest 25 the audience learned to tap into their own particular set of skills by learning what happened behind-the-scenes of some of the biggest stories in Polantz’ career.
October 15th, 2025 • SPJ/MediaFest25
How to Rebuild Trust in Journalism
An audience of students, educators and reporters received tips on how to restore trust in journalism. Lynn Walsh and Mollie Muchna from Trusting News delivered an interactive panel at MediaFest 25 that they hope students, educators, bosses or reporters can take back to their newsrooms.