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Transforming Crime Reporting Into Public Safety Journalism (2023) [1]
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Date: 2023-03
May
Welcome session: 1-3 p.m. Eastern, Tuesday, May 16, 2023
Welcome, introductions, and tracking mechanisms.
Review the schedule, meet your cohort and ask questions.
June
Session 1: 1-3 p.m. Eastern, Tuesday, June 6, 2023
How to change and why (building your mission)
In most newsrooms, the process for reporting out crime stories is a habit, or a reflex. Journalists cover crime today in ways that look very similar to how they covered crime 20 years ago. And yet, those habits, over time, fold into a false narrative. We’ll look at one newsroom that made significant changes and then discuss where to start.
Session 2: 1-3 p.m. Eastern, Tuesday, June 20, 2023
Evaluating where you are
To effectively complete a change management process, we have to understand where we are coming from and where we are going. In this session, we will give you tools to identify what markers you should measure to match up your journalism to your mission. You’ll learn to evaluate how your newsroom is currently covering crime and to track changes over time.
July
Session 3: 1-3 p.m. Eastern, Tuesday, July 11, 2023
Refining mission and tactics, looking at other newsrooms
Once we are clear on our mission, that clarity will allow us to make strategic and tactical choices. In this session, we will highlight several newsrooms such as NPR LA, Kansas City Defender and alumni of the program as guides for how your mission might impact coverage decisions.
Session 4: 1-3 p.m. Eastern, Tuesday, July 25, 2023
Building consensus and managing change within your news organization
Once you identify a clear mission, goals and strategy for your public safety coverage, you will need to get buy-in from various stakeholders to make the changes stick. This training will give you the methods and tools you need to effectively manage the change needed to fulfill your mission.
August
Session 5: 1-3 p.m. Eastern, Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023
Changing your relationship with the cops
With your new aspirations for covering public safety, you will need to redefine your relationships with the law enforcement agencies that you cover. In this session we’ll look at one television market that asked their local PIOs to do things differently.
Session 6: 1-3 p.m. Eastern, Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2023
Getting data and making it useful
The best way to break an old habit is to replace it with something new. When it comes to public safety, one obvious new approach for journalists is to stop documenting so many individual crimes and to begin documenting trends and data.
September
Session 7: 1-3 p.m. Eastern, Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023
Meaningful communication with your audience
Telling your audience what to expect will help reset what they expect from you. How are you going to do that? Related, most newsrooms have a lot of old content still online that is causing harm. We’ll look at the approach to addressing that content in one city, and then brainstorm out the implications for your news organization.
Session 8: 1-3 p.m. Eastern, Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023
Trauma-informed public safety reporting
Research has noted that often, victims of crimes that are covered by the media feel that they are assaulted first by the perpetrator, second by the criminal justice system, and next by the media. In this session, we’ll discuss how to report in a way that reduces trauma to victims and the community.
October
Session 9: 1-3 p.m. Eastern, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023
Special problems part 1: Juvenile crime and school violence
Covering juvenile crime is a topic that lends itself to sensationalism and misinformation. In this session we’ll tap into experts who study juvenile crime to help you tell a more accurate and complete story.
Session 10: 1-3 p.m. Eastern, Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023
Special problems part 2: Crime rates, sexual assault and other sensational events
Special problems include:
Rise in crime, or perceived rise
Sexual assault
Social issues that are crime adjacent, mental health, homelessness, drug addiction
What is the episodic crime that you should cover? What will people need information on?
What are the issues that you need to prepare coverage for?
November
Session 11: 1-3 p.m. Eastern, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023
Finalizing your new policy, building an implementation plan
Putting all the pieces together. How do policies work? How do you write them and how do you implement them in a way that creates lasting change.
Session 12: 1-3 p.m. Eastern, Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023
Final progress update
How’s it going? Each team will report out the progress they made and their next steps.
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