Journalist Workshop – Society of Professional Journalists

Arkansas SPJ presents program on best practices for reporting on suicide

Ahead of National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month in September, Arkansas SPJ presents From Stigma to Understanding: Best Practices for Suicide Reporting, a program highlighting the importance of responsible reporting on mental health and suicide, including safe reporting guidelines and resources for journalists. The webinar will take place from 1-2 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 28. Click the following link to join. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82760545392

FOX16 evening anchor Kevin Kelly, who launched an anti-bullying campaign called Step-Up, Stop Bullying, will moderate the program with Jacqueline Sharp, area director for the Arkansas chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and Aneri Pattani, a senior correspondent at KFF Health News, a national nonprofit outlet covering U.S. health care and health policy.

Pattani’s reporting focuses on mental health, suicide, and substance use. She recently completed her masters in public health as a Bloomberg fellow at Johns Hopkins University, where she helped create a free online course to teach journalists how to responsibly report on suicide.

Sharp graduated from Arkansas Tech University in Russellville with a Bachelor of Science. While studying at university, Sharp said she volunteered for a mentoring program and fell in love with the nonprofit world. She has more than 12 years of nonprofit experience. She began her role with AFSP in August 2021. She said she was drawn to this work because of her own lived experience during postpartum; she has loved ones she supports who struggle, and she believes that mental health is physical health. She recently wrote a blog for Newsweek, helping to highlight her lived experience around maternal mental health.

JOURNALIST WORKSHOP: UNDERSTANDING LEGAL DOCUMENTS

Saturday, March 16, 2024 | 10:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.

Join us for an informative workshop designed specifically for journalists on understanding legal documents. In this workshop, two seasoned journalists, Debrah Hale-Shelton with the Arkansas Times and John Lynch with the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, will share their expertise and insights by using their own work as examples to demonstrate how legal documents can be effectively utilized in reporting.

Debra Hale-Shelton is a veteran journalist who currently reports for the Arkansas Times. She previously was a reporter and briefly an opinion columnist for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette where she twice received the I.F. Stone Award for investigative journalism. In 2017, the American Journalism Historians Association named her Journalist of the Year. She also has worked as a reporter and editor for The Associated Press, mostly in Chicago but also in Little Rock, Atlanta and Kentucky. Hale-Shelton has interviewed past and future presidents, death-row inmates, and more than a few people who spoke on condition of anonymity. For 6 1/2 years, she taught English at Earle, Arkansas where she helped students start a school newspaper, The Bulldog Express.

Raised in West Texas on a diet of raw rattlesnake venom, polecat eggs and Saltine crackers, John Lynch, courthouse reporter for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, quickly grew strong enough to begin his never-ending battle for truth, public records and a free lunch. Since Halloween 1989, he has worked for one radio station and four newspapers in three states, including 19 years in this one. He asks that you stop using the phrases, “in connection with,” “shallow grave,” “speaking out,” “breaking his/her/their/silence,” and “it’s official.” And, please abandon “allegedly” in all its forms, except as a last resort.

Don’t miss this unique opportunity to learn from two seasoned journalists who will demonstrate the practical application of legal documents in their own stories. Join us for this enlightening workshop and enhance your ability to navigate and utilize legal documents in your journalistic endeavors.