Thursday was The Campanil’s first day in Hollywood and we heard our first keynote speakers at the ACP conference.
Our apologies, for not blogging about this right away, we haven’t had access to free wireless internet until now, so this update is a bit belated.
We heard from Ken Bensinger and Ralph Vartabedian, two reporters for the LA Times who were fundamental in the uncovering of the Toyota recall stories.
They talked about the importance of investigative journalism, why it is rewarding for them and what it requires from a journalist.
While I enjoyed the speech (especially compared to ACP’s speakers last year), not all of us were impressed. Some of the The Campanil-ers wanted to hear more about investigative journalism as a genre and less about the two’s experiences, which I can understand.
Today was the second day of the conference and we attended our first educational sessions.
I went to sessions on ad sales, reporting on a private college and collegiate design. I also supported Bonnie Horgos, our Sports and Health Editor, as she participated as a panelist on covering collegiate sports (She was amazing and definitely held her own on a panel comprised of her, three male students and a male moderator who thought the discussion revolved around him).
So far, the sessions have not been mind blowing, but I’m holding out for tomorrow’s sessions. I will be going to sessions on recruiting staff writers, hooking readers and protecting press freedoms.
What was mind blowing today was the keynote speaker. We heard from Bill Plaschke, a sports columnist for the Los Angeles Times.
Plaschke was not only a wonderful public speaker, combing humor and passion to give an amazing speech, but he had a really important message: words matter; journalism matters.
Even in a world of massive technological advance, where twitter is by far more popular than the New York Times or the Associated Press, true, written, edited and reported stories are the heart of information today, and will continue to be far into the future.
This was Plaschke’s message, and a message that I hope I can carry through to the rest of my career in journalism.
Read the The Campanil staff’s experiences at the ACP 2011 convention in Hollywood, Los Angeles on our website’s special blog page.
