Editor’s Note: Poynter will be at South by Southwest, the annual music, movie and interactive festival, March 7-16, in Austin, Texas. Look for our Poynter faculty members, Roy Peter Clark, Ellyn Angelotti and Kelly McBride, and digital media reporter Sam Kirkland.
We combed through the interactive schedule to find the sessions journalists attending the conference won’t want to miss.
Friday, March 7
Transparency Reporting for Beginners
12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Interestingly, this panel doesn’t seem to include any practicing journalists, but it does include two experts in Internet openness and two representatives of companies (Google and Dropbox) who will explain their efforts to preserve privacy and civil liberties.
The Compelling Image in the Age of Social Media
3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.
This workshop covers the “‘new basics’ in social media imagery; composition, lighting, framing, and color as it applies to formal and casual portraits, selfies, brand identity, groups, interiors, landscapes, & action shots.”
Saturday, March 8
- Nate Silver (AP)
Media & The Personal Brand — ESPN, Grantland & 538
12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Here’s a good opportunity to find out what to expect from Nate Silver’s new ESPN-housed property. His and Bill Simmons’s thoughts on editorial independence and their desire to be connected to ESPN despite their own strong personal brands could make for a good discussion. Here’s hoping they answer tough questions about why they didn’t strike out on their own like Jessica Lessin or Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher. Is ESPN just too dominant not to join?
Sunday, March 9
Print Is Amazing (…ly Profitable!)
11 a.m. to noon
Isn’t print supposed to be dead? What’s up with all these new print magazines? Ann Marie Gardner of Modern Farmer, Michael Renaud of Pitchfork and Paul Carr of Not Safe For Work Corporation will talk about their recently launched print editions. Being the editor of a print magazine launched all the way back in 2001 practically makes Mental Floss’s Jessanne Collins an old-media type at this session.
Can Great Journalism Make for Great Business?
11 a.m. to noon
M. Scott Havens, the president of The Atlantic who was poached last week by Time Inc., is scheduled to talk about how his former company “bucked the downward trend that’s plagued the business of media for years.” Can he do the same for Time?
Accurate, Fair & Safe: The Ethics of Social News
12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
The AP’s Eric Carvin and Digital First Media’s Mandy Jenkins tackle the issues surrounding reporting via social media, “from credit and permissions for user-generated content to working with amateurs who may find themselves reporting in dangerous or even life-threatening circumstances.”
Glassholes: The Cultural Dissonance of Technology
3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
NPR’s Elise Hu and Google’s Timothy Jordan are among the panelists tasked with predicting how wearables might change society and how we consume content. To prepare, check out Jeff Sonderman’s News U webinar from November, Preparing Journalism for the Age of Wearable Devices.
Algorithms, Journalism & Democracy
5 p.m to 6 p.m.
Join Poynter’s Kelly McBride and Betaworks’ Gilad Lotan (a member of Poynter’s National Advisory Board) to learn about “the surprising ways that algorithms make life better and some ways that algorithms distort our perception of reality.” Here’s Kelly’s preview of the session.
Instagramming the News
5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Instagram community manager Dan Toffey joins Kira Pollack, Time’s director of photography, and AP photographer David Guttenfelder for a discussion about professional images on social media. Check out Guttenfelder’s striking Instagram photos of North Korea at Time.
Nonprofit Journalism: Monetize Mission, Not Memes
5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
How do you make money in journalism these days if your standards are a little higher than BuzzFeed’s? Nieman Lab’s Joshua Benton and Texas Tribune’s Jake Batsell are among the panelists.
Monday, March 10
Why Didn’t a Tech Journalist Break PRISM?
11 a.m. to noon
“Are most tech reporters too wrapped up in simple tasks like rewriting press releases about new apps and reviewing the latest hit smartphone to bother investigating real scandals?” Great question. Re/code’s Kara Swisher, TechCrunch’s Alexia Tsotsis and The Next Web’s Martin Bryant will answer.
iWED: How to Marry Writing, Editing, & Design
12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Poynter’s writing guru Roy Peter Clark can invite you in his own words to the creative concept iWED, an “integrated marriage of writing, editing, and design” he pioneered alongside design guru Mario Garcia.
- Glenn Greenwald (AP)
A Conversation with Glenn Greenwald
3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The ex-Guardian reporter’s new site, The Intercept, was the first to launch under Pierre Omidyar’s new First Look Media organization. But Glenn Greenwald is hardly a recluse — “A Conversation with Glenn Greenwald” could be a daily CNN feature — so maybe your time would be better spent at…
Twibel: Fight Bad Speech with More Speech
3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Poynter’s Ellyn Angelotti and Stetson University’s Catherine Cameron will explore defamation law in the age of social media. Ellyn detailed the implications of the first U.S. Twitter libel trial in January, and she previews her SXSW session here.
Beyond Connectivity: Sharing News without the Web
3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Not everyone around the world is fully plugged-in to digital news. Here, “experts in media development and mobile technology will discuss how information is shared in low-bandwidth environments.” Among the panelists: Eliza Anyangwe, editor of the Guardian’s Global Development Professionals Network.
Is Online Video Killing TV?
5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Adweek says TV’s still huge, but online video continues to disrupt the medium. Here, the Huffington Post’s Roy Sekoff talks about how HuffPost Live — which recently reached 1 billion video views — “is effectively democratizing the media by putting the platform and content in the hands of the audience.”
Tuesday, March 11
Online Only: Lessons from the Texas Abortion Fight
9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
During the Wendy Davis filibuster and other stories surrounding the Texas abortion fight last year, most of the action unfolded online. Pro-life and pro-choice activists join the Texas Observer’s Forrest Wilder and Texas Monthly’s Sonia Smith to talk about the sea change in how these stories spread.
We All Copy Stuff. But How Close Is Too Close?
12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
In a discussion that spans all three area of SXSW — music, interactive and film — technology law attorney Bradley Gross explains where the line is when it comes to “borrowing” content online.
Correction: An earlier version of this post listed the session Print Is Amazing (…ly Profitable!) as taking place Saturday. It’s actually at 11 a.m. on Sunday, March 9.
Poynter at SXSW: Welcome back to the WED dance | The ins and outs of Twibel | Algorithms, Journalism and Democracy
