#CMA
October 17th, 2025 • SPJ/MediaFest25
Teaching Journalism Behind Bars
Journalism and incarceration are not necessarily a common pairing. Sara Vigneri, a faculty advisor to The Muhlenberg Weekly in Northern Pennsylvania who teaches at the Lehigh County Jail, believes the two belong together. She explained how teaching journalism in jails and prisons empowers people who are often silenced during a panel at MediaFest 25.
October 17th, 2025 • SPJ/MediaFest25
Washington-based Broadcast Journalists Share Tips for Industry in Social Media World
At the “Broadcast is Not a Dirty Word” session for MediaFest 25*, a student journalist in the audience who traditionally writes admitted broadcast is a dirty word to him because he never finds himself sitting down and watching television. But Cari Hernandez, the news director at WUSA-TV in Washington, D.C.,
October 17th, 2025 • SPJ/MediaFest25
Student Journalists Learn How to Better Cover Our Troops
When University of Alabama senior Jacob Ritondo was first contacted by the family of Hunter Whitley, he had no idea a story that would define the rest of his college career was unfolding. Whitley was a United States Marine veteran attending the University of Alabama.
October 17th, 2025 • SPJ/MediaFest25
Behind the Scoreboard: Finding the Human Story in Sports Journalism
Sports stories are about much more than who wins the game. Behind every competition is a journey of preparation, discipline, and determination from the athlete or team. However those stories can sometimes be hard to find, but it is the reporter’s job to look past the scoreboard and find the human story.
October 16th, 2025 • SPJ/MediaFest25
Behind the Scenes at the Washington Post Rapid-Response Investigative Unit
Dozens of MediaFest 25 attendees crowded into a room to listen to Washington Post editor Shawn Boburg spotlight his team’s investigative work. Attendees at the 1 p.m. panel lined the perimeter of the room, flowed into the hallway and sat on the floor, craning their heads to hear Boburg’s account of the rapid-response investigations unit, asking lingering questions about the latest breaking news.
October 16th, 2025 • SPJ/MediaFest25
Empowering Young Journalists to Conquer Fear and Burnout
Young journalists were encouraged to not let intimidation and burnout stop them from starting their careers during a MediaFest 25 session on the realities of working in media. Alyvia Taylor, a lifestyle reporter and producer from KTTC-TV in Rochester, Minn., shared her experience juggling multiple roles before becoming a reporter in her current job.
October 16th, 2025 • SPJ/MediaFest25
Higher Education Reporters Break Down Covering College in the Crosshairs
As the Trump administration takes aim at higher education nationwide, student journalists have been thrown in the middle of drastic changes and controversy. With the relentless pace of federal policy adjustments targeting research funding, diversity, equity and inclusion programs and international students’ ability to remain in the United States, panelists at MediaFest25 broke down how they have navigated reporting on today’s higher education landscape.
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 16th, 2025 • SPJ/MediaFest25
SPJ Honors Chapters at 2025 Opening Business Meeting; Outstanding Graduate in Journalism
The Society of Professional Journalists’ (SPJ) opening business meeting awarded several regional and campus chapters with distinguished awards for the 2025 year. Makayla Gray was awarded the 2025 Julie Galvin Outstanding Graduate in Journalism Award. She is currently pursuing her masters of arts in journalism at Georgetown University, where she is also the SPJ chapter president.
October 15th, 2025 • SPJ/MediaFest25
Journalism Faces Social Media Gatekeeping
Journalists and news stations use social media platforms to promote, inform and educate people, both nationally and internationally. However, these digital platforms can sometimes restrict the information being published. “One of the challenges is that we don’t know much about how this algorithm works, because the people who develop them and the people who market them don’t want to share that information, they’re considered trade secrets,” said Andy Lee Roth, Editor-At-Large at Project Censored.
October 15th, 2025 • SPJ/MediaFest25
Student Press Law Center equips student journalists with legal tools to tackle challenges
The Student Press Law Center kicked off the first afternoon of MediaFest 25 with a detailed session on how student journalists should navigate media law challenges in the United States. Mike Hiestand, senior legal counsel at the Student Press Law Center, a legal organization dedicated to defending student journalists’ freedom of the press, aimed to remove the fear of the topics of media law, including libel and copyright.
October 15th, 2025 • SPJ/MediaFest25
MediaFest 25 director Michael Koretzky Sets Honest, Blunt Tone for 2025 conference
Complicated is the first word MediaFest 25 Convention Director Michael Koretzky used to describe this year’s event. Three partner organizations are hosting the convention: Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), the Associated Collegiate Press (ACP) and College Media Association (CMA). “It’s kinda like asking three friends where they want to go for dinner.