AAJA Chicago

The Chicago Headline Club has two upcoming events that it would like to share with our members. Please spread the word and invite other journalists that might be interested in attending.

 The Chicago Headline Club, Citizen Advocacy Center and Center for Open Government present:

 Open Government Training for Journalists and Citizen-Journalists

Free training seminar for journalists, citizen-journalists and any interested individuals. Celebrate Sunshine Week by learning the best practices for obtaining access to government records and helpful methods for effectively using the Illinois Freedom of Information Act and Illinois Open Meetings Act.

When: Saturday, March 17, 2012, 12 – 2 p.m.
Where: ITT Chicago-Kent College of Law, 565 W. Adams, Room 580

Maryam Judar (Citizen Advocacy Center), Natalie Brouwer Potts (Center for Open Government) and Angela Caputo (The Chicago Reporter) will address:

• Freedom of Information Act (FOIA): the nuts and bolts of making a request, getting help from the Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor, appealing FOIA denials, obtaining records in the most useful format, submitting standing requests and how to sue the public body. We will review sample FOIA letters and discuss common FOIA problems.
• Open Meetings Act (OMA): monitoring government meetings, how to spot and challenge an improper closed session, and typical First Amendment issues. We will review examples of OMA violations.

We will leave time for general questions from the audience. For specific advice, you will have an opportunity to speak with the attorneys after the training to set up a free consultation.

RSVP: Please email the Chicago Headline Club at chc.spj@gmail.com to confirm attendance by March 16, 2012. Please indicate any specific topics you would like the training to address in the RSVP.

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 The Chicago Headline Club presents

Journalists and Trauma: How to Cover it and How it Impacts You
A panel discussion moderated by WGN’s Randi Belisomo

When: Tuesday, March 27, 6 pm
Where: Loyola University, 820 N. Michigan Ave. (entrance on Pearson) Regents Hall, Lewis Towers, 16th Floor

Panelists:

Frank Ochberg, MD, a psychiatrist, mental health expert, and one of the founding fathers of modern psychotraumatology who has helped to define and research post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), especially Victimization Symptoms as a distinct subcategory of PTSD, and Stockholm Syndrome, among his many accomplishments for which he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. He has received the Golden Award of the Academy of Traumatology (1998), and a Senior Fulbright Scholarship (South Africa) in 2002.

Ochberg has recently devoted much of his time to educating journalists about trauma, and, in recognition, the Dart Center’s Ochberg Fellowship was named for him. Ochberg Fellows, like Pulitzer Prize-winning writers, must demonstrate exceptional writing skills as well as thorough investigation of their topics.

Julia Lieblich is an award-winning human rights journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the Washington Post, Time, Life, and Ms. A former religion writer for the Chicago Tribune and the Associated Press, she is an assistant professor of journalism at Loyola University Chicago.

After receiving a Master’s degree in Theological Studies from Harvard’s Divinity School, Lieblich went on to work as the religion writer for the Associated Press and the Chicago Tribune, a business writer for Fortune magazine, a correspondent for ReligionLink, and was honored as an Ochburg Fellow at the well-known Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma.

Her new book, Wounded I am More Awake, follows the story of Esad Boskailo, a doctor who survives six concentration camps in Bosnia and emerges with powerful new lessons for healing in an age of genocide. The gripping account raises questions for healers, survivors, and readers striving to understand the reality of war and the aftermath of terror. Is it possible to find meaning after enduring crimes against humanity? Can people heal after trauma?

Jeff Kelly Lowenstein serves as the Database and Investigative Editor for Hoy, the Chicago Tribune’s Spanish-language newspaper.

Prior to working at Hoy, Lowenstein was a staff reporter for five years at The Chicago Reporter, a bimonthly publication that does investigative work around race and poverty issues. He is also president of the Dart Society, an organization of journalists that works to tell stories about trauma and violence with sensitivity and compassion, and that also works to help journalists deal with the impact of doing that work.