EJS President Eva Paterson joins a distinguished panel of speakers on a panel during the UNITY ’08 Convention, the nation’s largest gathering of journalists of color, taking place July 23-27 in Chicago. Nearly 10,000 journalists and media executives will meet to discuss timely issues affecting journalism and the media industry.
Uncovering Unconscious Bias to Improve Coverage of Race
Saturday, July 26, 2008
1:15 PM – 2:45 PM
McCormick Place West W176
- Carole Simpson, Anchor, World News Tonight Sunday, ABC News
- Melissa Cornick, Investigative Producer, Independent
- John Dovidio, Professor of Psychology, Yale University
- Roosevelt Thomas, President, The American Institute for Managing Diversity
- Eva Paterson, President, Equal Justice Society
Panel Description: Is your news executive aware that unconscious bias can affect political coverage, create faulty editorial decisions on a range of stories and hamper the career development of people of color who work in the newsrooms? Come hear about the theory of unconscious bias, a social science discipline that can help to modernize methods used by news organizations seeking to cover American race relations and related topics, such as: How much does the fate of the Presidential election hang on unconscious bias in the newsroom? Join veteran journalists, social psychologist and social justice experts in a lively discussion of both the theory of unconscious bias, and how reporters and editors can tap into research to inform and improve internal relationships, as well as news coverage.