2007: ‘Covering the Complexities of Civil Rights’
      10 Fellows Discuss Racial Issues With Experts,
      Take Part in Forum on Affirmative Action

Presentations by national experts and a public forum on affirmative action highlighted a weeklong conference in Los Angeles exploring racial justice in America. The conference was conducted by the USC Annenberg Institute for Justice and Journalism (IJJ).

Ten U.S. journalists, selected as IJJ Racial Justice Fellows, took part in the conference, “Covering the Complexities of Civil Rights, Equity and Opportunity,” held Jan. 14 to 20.

Scholars and other experts from Los Angeles and around the nation made presentations on issues affecting civil rights, equity and opportunity. They included representatives from USC Annenberg School for Communication, Public Policy Institute of California, Tomás Rivera Policy Institute at USC, Kirwan Institute at Ohio State University, Community Advocates Inc. in Los Angeles, UCLA Center for the Study of Urban Poverty and the Asian Pacific American Legal Center.

Journalists who led discussions included Tom Arviso Jr., publisher of the Navajo Times; photojournalist Lester Sloan, formerly of Newsweek; Steve Magagnini of the Sacramento Bee; Pha Lo of New America Media; Lynne Varner of the Seattle Times, and Don Bartletti, Judy Pasternak and Doug Smith of the Los Angeles Times.

The public forum – “Affirmative Action: Dead or Alive?” – examined the pros and cons and future status of such programs. It was moderated by Ellis Cose, a Newsweek columnist who authored a special report published by IJJ entitled “Killing Affirmative Action: Would ending it really result in a better, more perfect Union?”

Panelists at the forum were affirmative action opponent Ward Connerly; Jennifer Gratz, a plaintiff in the U.S. Supreme Court case Gratz v. Bollinger; Andrea Guerrero, a San Diego attorney and affirmative action advocate; and Darnell Hunt, director of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA.

The Fellows will publish or broadcast projects on racial issues as part of the fellowship. Their editors or news directors will join them at a follow-up conference to review their individual work. That conference will be held April 10-14 at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies in St. Petersburg, Fla.
The Fellows, from newspapers, radio, magazines and a television consortium, are:

• Barbara Belejack, editor, The Texas Observer.
• Ann Bennett, freelance producer and writer, National Black Programming Consortium.
• Leslie Fulbright, staff writer, San Francisco Chronicle.
• Leoneda Inge, reporter, North Carolina Public Radio – WUNC.
• Jeff Kelly Lowenstein, reporter, The Chicago Reporter.
• Jon Lowenstein, freelance photojournalist.
• M. Elizabeth Roman, reporter, Worcester (Mass.) Telegram & Gazette.
• Tram Nguyen, executive editor, Colorlines magazine.
• Anna Sale, reporter, West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
• Rebecca Trounson, staff writer, Los Angeles Times.

IJJ is directed by Steve Montiel. The Racial Justice Fellowship program is led by Victor Merina, an IJJ Senior Fellow, and Associate Director Frank O. Sotomayor. Also making presentations at the conference were Associate Director Marc Cooper, Senior Fellows Phillip Rodriguez and Joe Domanick and Expert Fellow Sally Lehrman.

Created with Ford Foundation funding, the Institute for Justice and Journalism was established in 2000 at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication to strengthen journalism about justice and injustice. Through Justice and Journalism Fellowships, IJJ supports journalists committed to covering complex, often polarizing issues with context and depth.