Advocate students attend journalism conference at PSU

On Oct 19, 2019, MHCC students from The Advocate, the independent student newspaper, attended the Build a Better Journalist Conference at Smith Memorial Student Union on the PSU campus in downtown Portland. 

The Oregon chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ Oregon) and the Pacific Northwest Association Journalism Educators organized the event for journalists and journalism students in Oregon and southwest Washington. 

The keynote session covered “Ghosts of Highway 20” – a behind-the-scenes look at how a team at the Oregonian put together a five-part multimedia series that won five Northwest Regional Emmy Awards and the Scripps Howard Award, among numerous others. The presenters went into depth about how it is possible to report long-form, impactful stories while still working on deadline and in small newsrooms.

Other sessions included: Reporting on Trauma, coverage of Oregon’s Largest-ever News Media Collaboration, Data and Diversity in Education Reporting, Covering the Far Right, Spicing Up Your Story With Data, and Getting Past ‘No’ on Public Records.

“I definitely felt as an aspiring journalist, it was very helpful to learn from professionals, honestly,”  said Chloe Collins, Editor in chief of the Advocate. Collins and three other editors were able to attend the conference.

Presenters included professionals from the Oregonian, Portland Tribune, KGW-TV, OPB and Willamette Week, as well as Ginger McCall, public records expert who was recently in the news – after pressure by the governor’s general counsel, she resigned as Oregon’s first appointed public records advocate.