Contested Spaces: Race, Media, and Journalism

Read The Collegian's coverage of this event.

On November 9, the Journalism Department hosted Contested Spaces: Race, Media, and Journalism. A pair of panels will reflected on the 50th anniversary of the Kerner Report, a report that addressed the issue of journalism and the news media and their role in instigating or mitigating civil conflict. The first panel included several African American journalists who joined newsrooms in the 1960's, directly following the Report's recommendations to increase diversity in newsrooms as a way to better communicate between conflicting segments of society. The second panel, co-sponsored by the Association of Physicians of Pakistani-descent of North America (APPNA), presented journalists and media personalities who are Muslim or writing about Muslims in post-9/11 America. The group assessed the evolution of the news media in productive engagement in civil conflict over the decades.

The year 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of the Kerner Report, the 400-page report prepared by the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, tasked by President Lyndon Johnson to investigate what led to the summer of race riots around the country in 1967. A good portion of this report addressed the issue of journalism and the news media and their role in instigating or mitigating civil conflict. Among its recommendations was a call for diversity in newsrooms. The more points-of-view represented in the newsroom, the argument went, the better the media would be able to communicate between conflicting segments of society.

Panel One

12:30–2 p.m.
Jepson Hall, Room 118

Panelists:
Maureen Bunyan, former news anchor, WTOP, Washington, D.C.
Paul Delaney, former reporter, The New York Times
Askia Muhammad, former editor-in-chief, Muhammad Speaks

Moderated by Robert Hodierne, University of Richmond

Reception

5:30–7 p.m.
Weinstein Hall, Brown-Alley Room

Panel Two

7–8:30 p.m.
Jepson Hall, Room 118

Panelists

Wajahat Ali, Contributing Op-ed Writer, The New York Times
Hannah Allam, national reporter for BuzzFeed News
Malika Bilal, Al-Jazeera English
Carmel Delshad - editor and reporter at WAMU, Washington, DC

Moderated by Shahan Mufti, University of Richmond