One day, two seminars, no cost, FREE lunch


Al Cross

Kentucky’s biggest continuing problem is its poor health, and the biggest special topic facing the state’s news media is the May 22 primary election. To help you cover both, the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues is holding two FREE, back-to-back workshops from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 30 at the Kentucky Broadcasters Association headquarters, 101 Enterprise Dr., in Frankfort (off US 60 at the east interchange with Interstate 64).

Each workshop will spend 200 minutes on its topic, packed with useful information, and give you the tools you need to help your readers, listeners and viewers make informed decisions when they vote – and how to live healthier lives, and understand the health-care system and the opioid crisis.

The campaign-coverage workshop will feature Institute Director Al Cross and Kentucky Standard Editor Forrest Berkshire. They will discuss how to cover the four different types of elections, how to conduct and use candidate interviews, what to do with campaign-finance reports and campaign advertising, how newspapers can handle letters to the editor and other opinion-page issues, how all news media can make pre-election reporting interesting, and ways to cover the voters on Election Day and the results on Election Night, in the primary and general elections.

The health-coverage workshop, with Cross and Kentucky Health News reporter Melissa Patrick, will show how to gather and use local health data, how to cover local health-care providers, explain the nationally significant changes coming in the Medicaid program, and look at Kentucky’s big health issues, such as smoking, cancer, obesity, diabetes and the opioid epidemic, which has become more of a health issue than a law-enforcement issue. This part of the workshop is supported by the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.

All this at no cost, and a free lunch! REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED, but it’s very simple: just send an email to al.cross@uky.edu. Al can also answer any questions or take any suggestions you may have. He can be reached at 859-257-3744.

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