Very timely indeed. News from The Lake Worth Herald: National expert to speak at PBSC on ethics and the media

This news couldn't come at a better time for cities like Lake Worth that have crucial votes upcoming. The reporting by The Palm Beach Post and others like CBS12/WPEC leading up to the 2014 bond vote, which lost by just 25 votes, was legendarily bad. Would accurate, unbiased news reporting have resulted in a different outcome? That's hard to tell. But now that we're heading into another bond vote to fix our roads things do not look promising.

Below are excerpts from last week's (7/28) Lake Worth Herald on a visit by a member of the Poynter Institute to talk about "traditional journalism and its ethics" (links added; registration information at end):

     Palm Beach State College’s [PBSC] Center for Applied Ethics will host award-winning journalist Al Tompkins in an engaging, interactive session exploring the challenges journalists face today that are transforming the foundations of traditional journalism and its ethics. Titled, “Navigating the News in the New Normal,” the presentation will be held from 2:30 to 4 p.m. Monday, Aug. 8 at the Public Safety Training Center Conference Room 108 on the College’s Lake Worth campus. The event is free and open to the public. [emphasis added]

[and. . .]

     “We live in a media saturated world and are consuming more than ever before,” said Kim Ardila-Morgan, director of PBSC’s Center for Applied Ethics. “Therefore, it’s important to not only recognize the kinds of content you’re reading, but to analyze its sources and evidence so as not to be misled. Al will not only help attendees learn how to look at a story differently, but discover the deeper, more critical questions that consumers should be asking.” 
     Tompkins is The Poynter Institute’s senior faculty for broadcast and online in St. Petersburg. He has 43 years of experience as a reporter, investigative reporter, producer, photojournalist and news director. He helped author the national codes of ethics for both the National Press Photographers Association and the Radio and Television Digital News Association.

[and. . .]

     During his two and a half decades as a journalist, Tompkins won a National Emmy Award, Peabody Award, the Japan Prize, the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel for Court Reporting, seven National Headliner Awards, two Iris Awards and the Robert F. Kennedy Award. Tompkins is also the author of “Aim For The Heart: A Guide for TV Producers and Reporters,” which was adopted by more than 150 universities worldwide as their main broadcast writing textbook.

Registration information:
Call 561-868-3545
Email: ethicscenter@palmbeachstate.edu
Or register using this link