MediaFest25, the nation’s largest news-media gathering for professionals and college students, concludes its four-day run in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, October 18. The conference is sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Collegiate Press and the College Media Association.

Michael Karlik, a member of the SPJ Colorado Pro chapter’s board of directors, is on hand for MediaFest. Here is his second dispatch from the conference.

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On Thursday, Day 2 of MediaFest25, Frank LoMonte, legal counsel for CNN, and Katelyn Polantz, a CNN justice and crime correspondent, spoke about techniques for covering legal proceedings, with an emphasis on obtaining documents directly from the courts or through Freedom of Information Act requests.

Polantz spoke about the tricky process for covering Donald Trump’s 2023 indictment in Miami, where electronic devices weren’t allowed in the courthouse. Instead, her producers figured out how to use pay phones to make outgoing calls to one local number, which they used to convey live updates from a closed-circuit feed inside the courtroom.

Also at the conference, Shawn Boburg, deputy editor of The Washington Post’s rapid-response investigations unit, explained that he is on an eight-person team that combines traditional reporting techniques with other forms of vetting to investigate competitive scoops.

Boburg described the well-known example of a source who approached a Post reporter during the 2017 Senate campaign of Republican candidate Roy Moore. 

Moore was the subject of multiple allegations of sexual misconduct against teenagers, and one woman approached a Post reporter, claiming to be one of Moore’s victims. However, multiple aspects of her story raised red flags, Boburg said. Eventually, after checking her background in other ways, four people from the rapid response team followed the woman from her home to her suspected workplace: Project Veritas, an activist organization that releases deceptively edited undercover videos targeting liberal or Democratic causes.

Boburg said there was extensive discussion about the tracking operation at the Post, and not all editors would have made the same decision to approve it.

MediaFest also heard from Eric Phillips, formerly of Voice of America and now the owner of MediaSafe LLC. He spoke about the logistics of reporting internationally and the safety considerations for freelance journalists.

Phillips said that press freedom and safety go hand in hand. Even in the United States, covering a press conference at city hall may be a low-risk activity, but it is never without risk, he said. Phillips said a risk-assessment discussion should happen before any reporting assignment, but the ultimate responsibility for situational awareness lies with the journalist.

Phillips cautioned that after reporting on difficult subjects, journalists are subject to PTSD or “moral injury” – a form of trauma stemming from a journalist’s involvement with an event that violates their values, morals, or ethics.

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On Saturday, October 18, at SPJ’s closing membership meeting at MediaFest, the results of the society’s election for seats on its Board of Directors and Regional Coordinator positions were declared:

Vice President

• Nicole DeCriscio

At-Large Directors:

• Michelle Watson
• Laura Garcia

Secretary-Treasurer:

• Sara Catania

Regional Coordinators:

• Region 2 — Alix Bryan
• Region 3 — Michael Koretzky
• Region 6 — Joe Radske
• Region 7 — Loretta McGraw
• Region 8 — Ruth Nasrullah
• Region 10 — Donald Meyers
• Region 11 — Ankita M. Kumar
• Region 12 — Jennifer Ellis

(McKenzie Romero, regional coordinator for SPJ’s Region 9 (Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming), continues in her position.)

WATCH ABOVE: SPJ’s closing-day membership meeting at MediaFest25.

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MORE FROM MEDIAFEST25: Michael Karlik’s notes on opening day.

SPJ COLORADO PRO EVENT, NOV. 4: Hear from journalist Justin Adams about Colorado baseball legend Theodore ‘Bubbles’ Anderson

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