NATIONAL JOURNALISM WEEK CHURCH SERVICE

News Release from the Press Association of Jamaica

November 16, 2016: National Journalism Week kicks off with the traditional church service, which this year is being held at Swallowfield Chapel on Sunday, November 20, at 10.45 am.

The overall theme for this year's Journalism Week, which will be celebrated from Sunday November 20 to Saturday November 26, 2016, is "Media Ethics and Modern Media".

"The church service has been a very important feature of Journalism Week over the years," says PAJ President Dionne Jackson Miller.

"We know all too well the importance of putting God first in everything that we do. That is part of the reason we continue to use this occasion to ask for God's continued guidance," Jackson Miller explains.

The church service will be followed by Monday's Forum and Panel Discussion, which is open to members of the public. This year's topic "Grief Porn': Journalism ethics in the media coverage of mourning" will focus on the globally significant issue of how media covers traumatic events. The forum will take place on Monday November 21 at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, starting at 6pm. The US Embassy is partnering with the PAJ for this event.
The main speaker for the forum will be former veteran editor Kevin Z. Smith, deputy director of the Kiplinger Program in Public Affairs Journalism. Smith is a former national president of the Society of Professional Journalists in the USA, and has been chairman of the group's Ethics Committee since 2010.

The forum will also feature local media professionals such as CVM TV's Managing Editor Irvin Forbes, Senior Gleaner reporter Erica Virtue, and Assistant Executive Director of the Broadcasting Commission Karlene Salmon.

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