Independent Voices:
Community Journalism Workshop
When: Friday, September 29
9:00am - 12:30pm
Where: Purcell Reading Room
University of Virginia School of Law
This gathering brings together a group of journalists who work outside of the mainstream media.
While they focus on different issues and work in different places, each shares a commitment to social justice and to making information accessible to local communities without being beholden to corporate interests. They also share an investment in and commitment to social media and independent publishing to share information responsibly and widely.
We will have a limited number of seats available on a shuttle from the UVA Chapel to UVA Law. The shuttle will depart Central Grounds for the Law School at 8:20am and 10:40am and will return to Central Grounds by 1pm. To reserve a seat please email mgm6jm@virginia.edu and include whether you plan to take the shuttle at 8:20 or 10:40am.
September 29, 2023
Purcell Reading Room, University of Virginia School of Law
Speakers will discuss why and how they do their work, their motivations and stakes in the stories they report, their sources of information, their trust building experiences, their own fiscal support, ethical and legal questions around their work, and security and safety concerns.
Breakfast & Coffee
8:30am
9:00am
10:30am
11:00am
Nuts, Bolts, Methods, Money, and Motivations
Coffee Break
Security and Safety
SCHEDULE
Meet the Conference Participants
Sam Barnes
Sam Barnes is a researcher with the Atlanta Community Press Collective. They helped found ACPC in summer 2021, initially focusing on the history of the prison farm that Cop City would be built on.
Carlos Berríos Polanco
Carlos Berríos Polanco is a freelance writer and photojournalist from Caguas, Puerto Rico. His work focuses on climate, conflict, and the intersection of the two. His work has appeared in Latino Rebels, New Internationalist, and Copwatch Media. Find him @Vaquero2Xl on most social media.
Molly Conger
Molly Conger is a journalist based in Charlottesville, VA. She conducts in-depth, investigative work on white supremacists, neo-Nazis and hate groups in the US. Since 2017, and in the aftermath of the deadly Unite the Right rally that year, she has been live-tweeting Charlottesville city government meetings and other official meetings, as well as legal proceedings involving hate crimes and white supremacist violence. She has also written and produced podcasts, including a series based on her research of the trial against the Unite the Right car attacker. In addition to her extensive Twitter journalism @socialistdogmom, Molly has published essays in news outlets such as The Guardian and Slate. She has a new online newsletter, The Devil's Advocates.
Kristopher Goad
Kristopher Goad is a journalist based in Richmond, Virginia who covers far-right extremism, activism, and Virginia state politics for RVA Mag. Goad uses the pseudonym @GoadGatsby for live tweeting and is returning to UVA after being attacked on during the Tiki Torch march at the Rotunda in 2017.
Spencer Haydary
Spencer Haydary (UVA Law 2023) is an attorney at the Law Center for Better Housing in Chicago. As an SJL Summer Research Fellow in 2023, he researched the drag bans proposed or adopted in Tennessee and thirteen other states. He synthesized his research into a law review article and over 60 tik-toks covering the drag bans and debunking anti-trans and anti-queer rhetoric. https://www.tiktok.com/@spencers_sound_justice
Talia Jane
Talia Jane is a reporter and researcher covering activism and extremism in New York City. Jane’s work has appeared in and informed reporting for The New York Times, Daily Beast, NBC, Vice, The Washington Post, Buzzfeed, AP, CBS, ABC, Gothamist, WNYC, Patch, and more. @taliaotg on Twitter
Matt Scott
Matt Scott is an investigative journalist with the Atlanta Community Press Collective. For the past year, he was reported extensively on the Cop City project. After growing up in Woodstock, Matt moved to Atlanta in 2010 and has called Atlanta home ever since. A City Council wonk, Matt enjoys live tweeting as many Atlanta council meetings as he can. He lives in Southwest Atlanta and has a cat named Shadow Monster.
Many thanks to our sponsors: The Sound Justice Lab and The Karsh Institute of Democracy at UVA, University of Virginia School of Law, The American Constitutional Society at UVA Law, and UVA Lambda Law Alliance.