COURSE DETAILS

Cost: $24.95 for this Webinar or enroll for two Webinars in this three-part series at $50 and get the third one free.

What will I learn? Race and ethnicity have never been more central to the coverage of the presidential campaign than right now. Whether you’re covering the national campaign or the voters in your community, your stories will likely touch on these issues.

In this one-hour Webinar, we will help you and your news organization make more thoughtful and informed decisions in your coverage, whether that's about polling, race relations, or those moments when issues of race or ethnicity explode in conflict. Not only will your stories honor journalism’s highest values of accuracy, fairness and contextual truth. You’ll also help your readers, listeners and viewers gain a fuller understanding of the issues.

You'll learn how to:

• Confront the white-hot issue of racial conflict with more precise and accurate coverage
• Identify when race or ethnicity is and isn't relevant in your coverage
• Discuss issues of race and ethnicity with awareness, skill, care, thoughtfulness and critical thinking

About the instructor: Keith Woods is the dean of faculty and teaches coverage of race relations at The Poynter Institute. He is a co-editor of the textbook "The Authentic Voice: The Best Reporting on Race and Ethnicity." He is a former sportswriter, city editor, editorial writer and columnist at The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, La.

About the Series: This Webinar is part of a three-part series, "The 2008 Presidential Election" Others in the series are:

• Covering the Election at the Local Level, Aug. 21, with Butch Ward acting general manager and a member of the faculty of The Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla. No matter what size your news staff, this year's presidential election is a story you can't ignore. Your newsroom has the opportunity to do what no national newspaper or wire service can do – help your local audience understand what the outcome would mean for the issues that matter most to your community.
  Click here to learn more and to register.
• Understanding and Interpreting Polls in the 2008 Election, Sept. 18, with Claudia Deane presenting on behalf of the American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR), the leading association of public opinion and survey research professionals. She is currently the associate director for public opinion and survey research at the Kaiser Family Foundation. Understand how to assess different poll results coming from seeming similar polls, question wording, likely voter models, and when a difference in poll results is really a difference and not just a result of sampling error will be essential for quality reporting.
  Click here to learn more and to register.

About Webinars: In this virtual classroom, participants can join in a seminar led by Poynter faculty and visiting faculty. This screencast includes a live audio and slideshow presentation in which participants can post questions and respond to poll questions posed by the host.

• A reliable Internet connection, a minimum of 600kbps
• Flash plug-in, version 8.0 or higher
  Click here to get the latest Flash Plugin
• A computer monitor with 1024 resolution or higher
• Built-in computer speakers, USB speakers, or headset
  
• Windows® XP (Home or Pro), Vista, 2000, 2003 Server
• Mac OS® X 10.3.9 (Panther®) or newer