High school diversity workshop

Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation funds
diversity workshop for high school journalists

The UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media is hosting a weeklong journalism diversity workshop this week for high school seniors. The Chuck Stone Program for Diversity and Education in Media “2007 High School Diversity Workshop” attracts high school students from diverse backgrounds, including but not limited to religion, ethnicity, family income and gender.

The Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation is supporting the program with a $25,000 grant. Funding for the program covers the students’ meals, lodging and other expenses as well as costs related to running the workshop.

“The U.S. population is becoming increasingly diverse, and we must train a diverse group of next-generation reporters, editors, photojournalists and others for an array of media jobs,” said Jan Yopp, senior associate dean of the school. “Newsrooms must be diverse to cover diverse audiences thoroughly and accurately. We also need a diverse faculty – both within the school and in the graduate students we are teaching to go into classrooms – to achieve our own diversity goals.”

Students are gaining newsroom practice, access to professional mentors and classroom study in the one-week reporting and writing program from June 24 – July 1. The students will produce a newspaper.

“When high school students are able to work in a university setting with talented teachers, they broaden their world,” said Jean Folkerts, dean of the school. “It’s like suddenly being able to explore the diversity and richness of the world in which we live. Journalism is a key to that world – through interviewing and writing about people, journalists begin to understand a complex society.”

The Chuck Stone Program for Diversity and Education in Media is named for Chuck Stone, who retired from teaching at UNC-Chapel Hill in June 2005. Stone, the Walter Spearman Professor for 14 years, promoted diversity throughout his career in media, Congress and academia. Diversity is an integral part of Stone’s philosophy of teaching and of life. Prior to joining the faculty, Stone worked as a newspaper editor and columnist in New York, Washington, Chicago and Philadelphia. He was editor of the Afro-American in Washington, D.C., and the Chicago Defender. He was the first black columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News and the first president of the National Association of Black Journalists.

The Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, based in Oklahoma City, was established in 1982 for charitable, scientific and educational purposes, including the improvement of the quality of  the practice  of  journalism among various media. This support includes funding for creative projects and research that promotes excellence in journalism and instills and encourages high ethical standards in journalism.