Description

Registration deadline is May 24.

Lunch included in price of registration.

AI Essentials for Journalists

There is a tidal wave of deception heading straight for you and your newsroom. Artificial intelligence will be a  powerfully disruptive force in 2024 elections, not just in the United States but in 63 other countries as well. In this highly interactive workshop veteran journalist and journalism trainer Al Tompkins will:

-Show you what disruptors can do right now. You will see how easy it is to create astonishing videos, audio clones and ultra-realistic images. We will create these examples in real time, right before your eyes using software that most TV newsrooms already have but may not realize it. More than that, much of the AI software that disruptors will be using is easily downloaded onto a phone and is often free or very inexpensive.

-Explain how journalists can learn to spot fake audio, video and images

-Show you the most common mistakes AI generators make

-Give you a peek at the near-term future of artificial intelligence. You will see how off-the-shelf video editing programs are about to include technology that will create video that does not exist and alter video that is real in ways that present huge ethical challenges for journalists.

-You will hear how journalists can teach audiences how to become more savvy news consumers, which makes real journalism more important in a world full of fakes.

Powerful News Interviews

Interviewing is mostly about listening, and yet you probably have never taken a course in how to be a better listener. Let this session be the first. Al Tompkins will bring his 52 years of journalism and teaching experience to this conversation that will include:

-How to encourage a reluctant interview subject to open up

-The vital importance of “setting” to influence the tone and content of your conversation

-How to recognize a great soundbite when you hear it

-The art of the open-ended question

-The skill of how to have a tough conversation that remains respectful

-How to talk with vulnerable people including children and victims 

-How to remain mindful of the harm that you might cause dredging up tender topics including the harm you may cause to yourself

This session will be practical and hands-on. You will practice asking questions and listening. And the session will be loaded with real-life examples of great (and some not so great) interviews.

Come ready to participate.