As you prepare your schedule and map out your agenda for the upcoming San Antonio convention, you'll have the opportunity to take advantage of numerous panels or sessions that deal with the five subject areas of the Professional Freedom and Responsibility Committee: free expression; ethics; media criticism and accountability; racial, gender and cultural inclusiveness (formerly minority affairs); and public service. Some of these panels or sessions are sponsored in part by RTVJ and some are not.

Here is a listing of the panels categorized by the PF&R subject area of interest:

1. Free Expression

Keynote
Wednesday. August 10
6:45 p.m.

Alejandro Junco de la Vega will be the Keynote Speaker for the 2005 AEJMC convention in San Antonio, Texas. Junco is the founder of one of the most powerful newspaper conglomerates in Latin America. In Mexico City, his newspaper Reforma is considered the most widely read paper. His company also publishes Mural in Guadalajara and El Norte in Monterrey.

Junco received his bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Texas-Austin. He is a former student of the late Mary A. Gardner, a former professor of UTA and the founder of the Hispanics in Journalism Program at Michigan State University. After becoming the publisher of El Norte in 1973, Junco hired Gardner to train reporters not to accept bribes from government officials — a practice that was not regulated at that time.

Junco is a crusader for political awareness and opposition to media corruption and has helped to reform the democratic structure of Mexico. He and his reporters have been censored and threatened while they have successfully helped to create a free press in Mexico.

"The WLBT Case: Toward Free Expression and Diversity in the Media"
Thursday, August 11
11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.

A landmark communications law battle begun in 1964 not only brought majority-black ownership to WLBT-TV in Jackson, Mississippi, but also established the public’s right to participate in FCC decisions. Panelists will discuss the case’s impact on the public interest movement, on minority hiring in broadcasting, and racial-affairs coverage. (LAW, HIST)

"Do Reporters have a Right to Protect Sources?"
Friday, August 12
1:30 to 3 p.m.

Recent court decisions have challenged the notion that journalists have the right to keep source identity to themselves. These cases have sparked hot public debate about the clash between press freedom and law enforcement investigation. Led by Oregon’s Kyu Ho Youm and Missouri’s Mike Farrell, this panel will offer a discussion of these issues by journalists, lawyers and legal scholars. (NWSP, LAW)

2. Ethics

"Elections and Ethics: Candidate Messages and Political Reporting in the Spin Zone"
Wednesday, August 10
3:15 p.m. to 4:45 p.m.

The past year’s election season raised a host of media-ethics related issues, from the tension between news media and campaign information-management efforts to advertising effects on voter turnout. Panelists will explore ethical implications of political news coverage, advertising, persuasion campaigns and online discourse. (MED, ADV, PR, RTVJ)

"What is Responsible Advocacy? Perspectives on Ethics in Public Relations"
Thursday, August 11
11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.

Leading scholars address the ethical dimensions of contemporary public relations practices in this roundtable session, in which panelists discuss and debate topics ranging from deceptive communication practices involving undisclosed special interests to increased public demands for truth and accountability to the convergence of legal and ethical standards in public relations. (MED, PR)

"Visual Truth in the Marketplace of Ideas" & "Teaching Ethics ‘Boot Camp'"
$50 faculty, $40 students
Post-Convention Workshop
Saturday, August 13
1:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Sponsored by the Media Ethics Division
Geared to all AEJMC members, the workshop frames the balancing of truth-telling and minimizing of harm through the lens of visual communications and photojournalism. The "Boot Camp" portion of the program concentrates on the teaching of media ethics and is for new teachers of media ethics and those considering teaching in this area. Registration is limited to 30; cost is $50, $40 for graduate students. Register on the AEJMC convention registration form; look for "Visual Truth." For additional information, contact Bill Babcock, California State, Long Beach, at wbabcock@csulb. edu or 562-985-4981.

3. Media Criticism and Accountability

"Journalism and the Public: Restoring the Trust"
Includes afternoon panels, dinner, networking reception – $49 ($69 after July 8)
Pre-convention Workshop
Tuesday, August 9th
11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Complete information at: www.restoringthetrust.org

A Wake Up Call: Can Trust and Quality Save Journalism? An interactive conference where top academic and industry thinkers like Craig Newmark, Dan Gillmor, Len Apcar, Dori Maynard, Jeff Jarvis, Peggy Kuhr, Philip Meyer, Jay Rosen and you address and seek to answer these primary questions:

* Is the mainstream media in a death spiral?
* Can improving editorial quality and trust save it?
* If not, where we will be able to turn to find high quality and trustworthy news and information?
* Is the salvation in citizen, community, and niche journalism?
* What does all this mean to individual journalists, journalism educators and the public?

Produced in partnership with the Robert D. Fowler Distinguished Chair in Communication at Kennesaw State University, the Reynolds School of Journalism at University of Nevada, Reno, the Public Journalism Network and the AEJMC’s Civic Journalism and Community Journalism interest groups.

"Political Reporting in the Blogosphere Era"
Thursday, August 11
11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.

Journalists and authors discuss the influence of bloggers, talk-show pundits, neo-conservative and liberal spinmeisters on by-the-book reporting of politics. What rules apply when journalists enter the fray where opinions seem to trump facts? This panel will discuss in detail how the "journalism of assertion" is influencing not only the political arena, but the future of the profession itself. (RTVJ)

"What Goes Around Comes Around: A Return to a Partisan Press"
Thursday, August 11
3:15 to 4:45 p.m.

History books portray the partisan press as a relic of the days when political parties sponsored newspapers. Has it found new life in today’s increasingly fractured society? What is the impact of this new partisan press on the news profession and on the democratic process? Oklahoma’s Charlyne Berens and Northwestern’s David Abrahamson lead this panel, which includes Missouri’s Geneva Overholser and Texas Monthly editor Evan Smith. (NWSP, MAG)

"Information or Misinformation: Prescription Drugs in the Marketplace of Ideas"
Friday, August 12
8:15 to 9:45 a.m.

Panelists will examine the type and quality of information the public receives about prescription drugs from both news media sources and marketing communications. Topics include agenda setting in news coverage, coverage of prescription drug importation, public relations for pharmaceutical companies, information content of prescription drug advertising, and federal regulatory issues regarding prescription drug advertising, marketing and communications. (SCIG, LAW)

4. Racial, Gender and Cultural Inclusiveness
(formerly minority affairs)

"Sharing Ideas and Methods on Teaching Diversity"
$10 fee
Tuesday, August 9
9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Participants will engage in an interactive effort to share ideas, methods and materials about the teaching of diversity. Among special contributors will be members of the LSU Task Force on Diversity, outstanding teachers of diversity, and media professionals who are dedicated to diversity in mass communication and higher education. Cost is $10. Register on the AEJMC convention registration form; look for "Teaching Diversity." For additional information, contact Ralph Izard, Louisiana State, at izard@ ohio.edu or (740) 593-2603.

"Communicating with Diverse Audiences: A Look at Latino Campaigns"
Wednesday, August 10
9 a.m. to Noon

Explore with communications firm Bromley/ Manning Selvage & Lee which specializes in PR, advertising and marketing campaigns targeting Latinos. The professionals at the firm will give a presentation about Latino campaigns and issues, followed by a Q&A session. (Off-site Tour) (MCS)

"Unpaid Internships: Favoring the Privileged?"
Wednesday, August 10
10 to 11:30 a.m.
Students with limited incomes often must choose between an unpaid career-oriented internship that would lead to better jobs and higher salaries after graduation or a paid job that may lack career relevance but helps pay tuition and expenses. Professors and practitioners will explore methods to make internships accessible to all. (PR, ICIG)

"The Explosion of Latino-Oriented Media in the U.S.: What does this mean and how are we preparing our students for these media?"
Wednesday, August 10
1:30 to 3 p.m.

The goal of this panel is twofold: To briefly explain the phenomenal explosion in the number and nation-wide development of media oriented to Latinos in the United States and to hear from representatives of some of the programs in which issues related to Latinos and the media are being taught as part of their schools and departments of journalism and mass communication. (MAC)

"The WLBT Case: Toward Free Expression and Diversity in the Media"
Thursday, August 11
11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.

A landmark communications law battle begun in 1964 not only brought majority-black ownership to WLBT-TV in Jackson, Mississippi, but also established the public’s right to participate in FCC decisions. Panelists will discuss the case’s impact on the public interest movement, on minority hiring in broadcasting, and racial-affairs coverage. (LAW, HIST)

"Hard to Identify and Even Harder to Reach: A Primer on GLBT and Multiracial Audiences"
Thursday, August 11
3:15 to 4:45 p.m.

Advertising professionals will discuss the challenges of communicating with GLBT audiences and those who identify with more than one culture. A panel including executives from AOL, GM and top agencies will explain how they define and find these potentially lucrative target markets and what types of creative approaches work best. (GLBT, ADV)

"Gay and Lesbian Issues in the News as Isolated Incidences Rather Than Trends or Issues"
Friday, August 12
3:15 to 4:45 p.m.

Numerous issues involving the GLBT community were covered by U.S. news media as isolated events or processes. News coverage, however, that provided context or analysis explaining how these issues were (or were not) related and their relative importance for those groups both advocating and opposing gay rights were notably missing. (GLBT, MDIG)

"A Rose By Any Other Name: Marketing People and Products to the Hispanic Audience"
Friday, August 12
3:15 to 4:45 p.m.

This panel will explore a variety of issues related to marketing to the Hispanic audience. The panel examines what happens when television and radio journalists change their ethnic names to Anglo-sounding names. In addition, this panel will examine how Hispanic advertising agencies determine which media and languages to use when targeting this audience. (ADV, MAC)

5. Public Service

"Innovative Outreach to Scholastic Journalism"
Friday, August 12
3:15 to 4:45 p.m.

This research-oriented session features three winning entries as selected by a panel of judges, that will describe an innovative program offered by a college or university targeted to high school, middle school or elementary school students or teachers. (SCHJ)

"Professional Freedom and Responsibility Award Winner: Ronnie Dugger, founding editor of The Texas Observer"
Friday, August 12
5 to 6:30 p.m.

Ronnie Dugger, founding editor of The Texas Observer, co-founded the Alliance for Democracy, has authored biographies of Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan, and has written for such periodicals as The Nation and The New Yorker. (CCS, CCJA)