Sessions at the conference, which begins January 14 and is called "Covering the Complexities of Civil Rights, Equity and Opportunity," will cover the Michigan ballot proposition on affirmative action that was approved in the November 2006 elections, and two U.S. Supreme Court cases involving the assignment of public school students. The conference will also address racial and ethnic disparities in health care and the influence of race and class in immigration and criminal justice.
The Fellows will publish or broadcast pieces on these and other racial issues as part of the fellowship, and their editors or news directors will joing them at a follow-up conference in April to review their work. The fellowship program is led by Victor Merina, an IJJ Senior Fellow and writer previously with the Los Angeles Times, and IJJ Associate Director Frank O. Sotomayor, a former Los Angeles Times editor, and is made possible by funds from the Ford Foundation.
The Fellows are:
- Barbara Belejack, editor, The Texas Observer
- Ann Bennett, freelance producer and writer, National Black Programming Consortium
- Leslie Fulbright, staff writer, San Francisco Chronicle
- Leoneda Inge, reporter, North Carolina Public Radio (WUNC)
- Jeff Kelly Lowenstein, reporter, The Chicago Reporter
- Jon Lowenstein, freelance photojournalist
- M. Elizabeth Roman, reporter, Worcester (Mass.) Telegram & Gazette
- Tram Nguyen, executive editor, Colorlines magazine
- Anna Sale, reporter, West Virginia Public Broadcasting
- Rebecca Trounson, staff writer, Los Angeles Times
Visit the Institute for Justice and Journalism Web site
Read about last year's fellowship program
Read about IJJ's report on affirmative action and the Michigan ballot measure
