#mediafest25
October 17th, 2025 • SPJ/MediaFest25
No Longer a Niche Beat: What Journalists Should Know About Immigration Reporting
Immigration and free speech laws are increasingly intertwined, advocate for Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) Dominic Coletti told a room of student journalists during his “Immigration 101” panel at MediaFest 25. Coletti, program officer for FIRE’s Student Press Freedom Initiative, said that while immigration statutes rarely change, “the practical considerations are evolving very quickly,” especially on college campuses where visa concerns now overlap with reporting and academic freedom.
October 17th, 2025 • SPJ/MediaFest25
How to Collaborate and Maintain Flexibility in Visual Storytelling
Multimedia reporting depends on collaboration, experimentation and clear purpose, said Courtney Kan, senior editor for visuals of the Washington Post. Strong stories begin with a strong idea, she said at a panel titled Visual Storytelling at MediaFest 25. “Visuals should enhance and not distract from the narrative.
October 17th, 2025 • SPJ/MediaFest25
Digital Security Tips for Journalists
Journalists can be at risk of hacking because of their prominent online presence. There are many ways this can happen: clicking on random emails, using multiple devices and logging into them and by stolen passwords. The most common way accounts can be hacked is through taking control of a computer system, also known as hijacking.
October 17th, 2025 • SPJ/MediaFest25
Rethinking how journalists report on homelessness
When reporting on homelessness and poverty, journalists need to carefully examine what practices they engage with to make sure they capture a fuller picture, urged Laura Moorhead an associate professor at San Francisco State University’s journalism department. She discussed how journalistic norms and fairly reporting on homelessness are sometimes at odds during her MediaFest 25 session, “Reporting community stories on homelessness and poverty.”
October 17th, 2025 • SPJ/MediaFest25
Learning to Take Up Space as Female Journalists
Three women in professional media shared their personal experience of coming up in the industry as women and women of color during the “Women’s Work” panel at MediaFest 25. They advocated for young women who are new to the industry to believe in their worth and speak up for what they deserve in the newsroom.
October 17th, 2025 • SPJ/MediaFest25
Taking AI algorithms outside the black box
As artificial intelligence and other algorithm-driven technologies rapidly advance, the public’s understanding of them is not — and that is where journalists come in. Digging into what is happening inside search engines and large language models is something anyone can do with very little tech knowledge, a six-step process Project Censored Editor-at-Large Andy Lee Roth walked student and professional journalists through during the “Beyond the black box: Using DIY algorithm audits to develop stories That Promote AI Literacy” panel at MediaFes t25.
October 17th, 2025 • SPJ/MediaFest25
MediaFest 25 Brings Aspiring Journalists to the Nation’s Capital
(MediaFest 25 — hosted by the College Media Association, Associated Collegiate Press and the Society of Professional Journalists is underway in Washington, D.C. The conference is drawing hundreds of student journalists from across the country to connect, learn and celebrate their shared passion for storytelling.)
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
‘We Can’t Ignore This Anymore’: How the U.S Press Freedom Tracker is Fighting For Journalists.
Every journalist gets hate comments, but how many of them are assaulted? The U.S Press Freedom Tracker has recorded 121 incidents of assault across the United States in the past six months alone. This is one of the many statistics tracked in the U.S
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
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
Life is too short for boring social media
In an era where social media drives engagement and attention spans are shorter than ever, Emily Bloch, a national reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer, encouraged journalists to rethink how they approach digital storytelling during her MediaFest 25 session, “Life’s Too Short for Boring Social Media.”
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
Journalists are encouraged to seek out faith and prayer at MediaFest 25
Two speakers invited journalists to pause and pray about times of global unrest during a small, intimate gathering during MediaFest 25. Led by Naomi Balk, assistant director of World News Group and the World Journalism Institute in Grand Rapids, Mich., and Laura Janelle Downey, executive editor of Atlanta-based WebMD Magazine, offered a moment of quiet reflection amid the fast pace of journalism.
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
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
Media-savvy legal associate encourages student journalists to report boldly — but know the law
Marie McMullan, a student press legal associate at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), wants students to feel confident covering contentious topics. McMullan wanted her session, titled “Don’t Get Sued” at MediaFest 25, to help students navigate legal anxieties while maintaining a sense of purpose in their reporting.
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.