Minnesota Journalism Center Events
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Center Events
More events: training and opportunities across journalism
From the MJC: Sign up for our newsletter to find out about all our upcoming events
Other opportunities for learning and connecting
— plus Minnesota news organizations' events
The Minnesota Journalism Center maintains a calendar of training events, workshops, conferences and talks from across journalism and beyond — hosted in person and virtually — that might be of interest to Minnesota journalists. The calendar also includes events hosted by news organizations across the state, which journalists in Minnesota can attend for inspiration, information and to cheer each other's efforts.
Subscribe to the training calendar or newsroom events calendar -- or email us to share events you'd like us to add.
A Conversation about the Health of Local News
September 27, 2024 100 Murphy Hall
And Findings from a New Minnesota Journalism Research Study
Hearts Divided: How Political Polarization Shapes Our Closest Connections
October 4, 2024 100 Murphy Hall
Presentation by Emily Van Duyn
The 39th Annual Silha Lecture
October 7, 2024 Cowles Auditorium, West Bank Campus
The Free Speech Recession and How to Reverse It: Five Lessons from History
Election Fact-Checking: Tools and Best Practices
October 7, 2024 Online via Zoom
In this RTDNA/Google News Initiative training, we’ll explore ways to fight back against misinformation and disinformation during election coverage.
The 80-Year History of the Minnesota Poll
November 15, 2024 McNamara Alumni Center
Help us dive into the data of one of the longest-running state public opinion surveys in the country.
Designing the Future of Local News: An AI Workshop at the MNA Convention
January 30, 2025 Brooklyn Park, Minn.
Minnesota journalists: Kick off the year by developing THAT project -- the one you've been dreaming about launching, if only you had the time and resources. Spend an afternoon with the Minnesota Journalism Center, MNA and Hacks/Hackers to turn your Big Idea into a solid plan.
Centering Ethics, Equity, and Audience in Applications of AI: An MNA convention session
January 31, 2025 Brooklyn Park, Minn.
Headed to the Minnesota Newspaper Association's 2025 convention in January? Join us for a Friday morning panel discussion exploring ways to use AI tools in your newsroom while centering your community's trust.
AI Hackathon: Making Local Civic Information More Accessible in Minnesota Communities
January 31, 2025
Join us in reimagining how AI can serve Minnesota's communities and strengthen local civic engagement. Together, we can build tools that make local democracy more accessible and participatory for all.
“High Value Lies: Ethics and Undercover Investigations in the Contemporary News Environment”
February 24, 2025 Coffman Theater
2025 Silha Spring Ethics Forum
Panel: Covering health and health policy in local communities
March 5, 2025 The Market at Malcolm Yards
Join us for a timely conversation about the challenges and opportunities in covering public health and health policy in local news, with journalists who cover communities across Minnesota -- and beyond.
How local news orgs are reaching younger audiences — and how you can, too [ZOOM]
March 26, 2025 Online via Zoom
Join the Minnesota Journalism Center's cohort of nonprofit and member-supported news organizations for a noontime conversation about smart approaches to building trust and relevance with young audiences.
Northern Exposure: A gathering of visual journalists
April 4, 2025 Murphy Hall
An anything-but-the-same-old conference to talk photography, video and storytelling.
A Community Forum: Free Speech and Academic Freedom at Public Universities
April 17, 2025 Cowles Auditorium and on Zoom
The community forum will provide an opportunity for faculty, staff and students to share their perspectives on recent and emerging threats to the core rights of academic freedom and free speech.
How to access open records – and how to fight back when you're denied [virtual]
May 20, 2025
Three experts on Minnesota’s open records and meetings laws will walk you through how to identify the records you might need for a story, what to do to get them, how to negotiate costs and what to do when you’re told no.
Symposium on the Role of Journalism in Covering Public Opinion
May 28, 2025 Murphy Hall, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
Second in a three-part symposium series commemorating the anniversary of the Minnesota Poll
Dig Deeper: Using Google tools to find and organize information
August 5, 2025
This in-person workshop is a partnership of the Minnesota Journalism Center, the Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists and the Google News Initiative
Symposium: The Future of State and Local Opinion Research
September 19, 2025
Third in our three-part series marking 80 years of the Minnesota Poll
2025 Silha Lecture "Stop Drawing . . . Or Else: A Cartoonist's View on Democracy's Perilous Moment"
September 30, 2025
With Ann Telnaes and Roslyn Mazer
Listeners Like Who? Exclusion and resistance in the public radio industry
November 5, 2025
Sociologist Laura Garbes will discuss her new book, "Listeners Like Who? Exclusion and Resistance in the Public Radio Industry," with Hubbard School assistant professor Carolina Velloso and longtime public radio producer Sam Choo
(In)Justice Series on Data & Power: Who Owns Your Medical Information?
November 6, 2025
In an era of rapid technological advancement, the lines between improved care, data surveillance, and profit have become increasingly complex. This conversation brings together experts and practitioners to examine how data is collected, shared, and used in the name of public health—and how those practices often deepen existing inequities. From genetic testing kits, wearable fitness trackers, and apps that manage pregnancy or mental health to digital medical records and predictive algorithms, panelists will explore how personal health information is weaponized or commodified, often without true consent or transparency. Together, we will ask: who really owns your health information—and who benefits from it? In a world where patients’ digital medical records are fifty times more valuable than financial information, what does consent look like when data is currency? And how can communities reclaim agency over their own bodies and information in systems that too often exclude or exploit them?
Chile in Their Hearts: A Conversation with journalist John Dinges
November 10, 2025
Join us for a conversation with journalist John Dinges, one of few American journalists present for the coup in Chile and the establishment of the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.
Know your rights: Protest safety & police interactions for journalists
November 12, 2025
As Minnesota journalists prepare for the possibility of National Guard deployments and a possible increase in the presence of federal agents in the state, the Minnesota Journalism Center and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press are partnering to offer training on journalists’ legal rights and responsibilities.
Marc I. Yarosh Lecture: Journalism Ethics at a Time of Political Violence, with The New York Times' Ernesto Londoño
November 13, 2025
This new annual Hubbard School lecture series at the puts professional journalists in conversation with students about complex ethical issues that they've encountered in the course of everyday reporting.
(In)Justice Series on Data & Power: Who Gets to Define “Latino”?
December 4, 2025
What does it mean to be Latino, and who gets to decide? This conversation challenges the flattening of Latinidad in the United States and makes space to explore its complexity, power, and contradiction. Too often, Latino communities are reduced to trauma, immigration headlines, or abstract data. These narratives are real and urgent, but they are incomplete. They reflect the weight we carry but not the worlds we are creating in spite of it. They miss the agency, imagination, and leadership Latines bring to culture, politics, the economy, and daily life.
Staying safe on any assignment: Situational awareness training for journalists
December 12, 2025
As Minnesota journalists cover an increase in immigration enforcement across the state, the Minnesota Journalism Center and the International Women's Media Foundation are partnering to offer training on staying safe on any newsroom assignment.
Liberal Arts in Action: Responding to This Historic Moment
January 23, 2026
Dialogue on the Day of Truth and Freedom
Chat with a safety expert: How editors and news leaders can keep their teams safe
January 30, 2026
A virtual conversation to support Minnesota editors and news managers as they work to keep their teams safe
Supporting your newsroom in turbulent times: A session for Minnesota journalists
February 3, 2026
Join the Minnesota Journalism Center and the Global Center for Journalism and Trauma for a one-hour training for Minnesota news managers, editors and peer supporters across the newsroom on how to effectively support trauma-exposed staff and contributors in a trauma-drenched news cycle.
(In)Justice Series on Data & Power: Is AI the Biggest Gatekeeper?
February 19, 2026
In a world increasingly shaped by algorithms, who gets seen, and who gets erased? From racial bias in image generators like DALL·E and Midjourney to opaque algorithms on platforms like Spotify, TikTok, and Instagram, AI systems are quietly curating our cultural landscape. This means the algorithm—not us—is most frequently the one deciding whose art is visible, whose stories are elevated, and which creators get left behind. This event explores how artificial intelligence is shaping the future of art, culture, and representation, often in ways that reinforce historical bias and gatekeeping.
Trauma-Informed Reporting & Resilience for Student Journalists
February 20, 2026
How can student journalists cope with stress, trauma and burnout in the face of mounting crises and pressures — while still doing the work of being a student and a journalist?
Reflecting on a crisis, charting a path forward: A resilience workshop for Minnesota journalists
February 21, 2026
As we navigate this pivot point — taking stock of all that we've seen and experienced, and looking ahead to the next phase of this moment — the Minnesota Journalism Center invites you to spend part of your Saturday morning with other Minnesota journalists for a retreat-style workshop led by the Global Center for Journalism and Trauma (formerly the Dart Center) on Feb. 21.
Covering the Paralympics: A virtual conversation
February 26, 2026
Join a Paralympian, a sports researcher and a sports journalist for a conversation about inclusive coverage ahead of the Winter Games
Domestic Hostile Environment and First Aid Training for Student Journalists
February 27, 2026
This intensive, two-day HEFAT training certification course — specifically for University of Minnesota student journalists — is designed to prepare journalists and media professionals for the hazards they may face while working in today’s challenging environments across the United States.
Domestic Hostile Environment and First Aid Training for Local Journalists
March 2, 2026
This intensive, two-day HEFAT training certification course is designed to prepare journalists and media professionals for the hazards they may face while working in today’s challenging environments across the United States.
(In)Justice Series on Data & Power: What Happened to the Family Tree?
March 19, 2026
In an era driven by data, what kinds of information counts, and who decides? While we often think of data as numbers, spreadsheets, or digital records, many communities have long relied on oral history, memory, and story as essential forms of knowledge. This event centers lineage as data—the ancestral, cultural, and place-based transmissions that shape who we are, where we are from, and how we belong. What happens when that thread of lineage is broken by displacement, forced migration, incarceration, or structural erasure? And how are people and communities reclaiming connection after these lines have been broken?
Northern Exposure: A gathering of visual journalists
April 10, 2026
Digital security for journalists: Protecting your data and defending against doxing
May 14, 2026
Presented by the MJC, the Committee to Protect Journalists and the Minnesota SPJ.
Securing the story: Protecting your sources and digital reporting materials
May 21, 2026
Presented by the MJC, the Committee to Protect Journalists and the Minnesota SPJ.
Interested in a fellowship? Join us for a reception to hear about the Knight-Wallace fellowships
June 22, 2026
Join the Minnesota Journalism Center, Sahan Journal and MPR News for food, drinks and conversation with Lynette Clemetson, director of the Wallace House Center for Journalists at the University of Michigan.