On Thursday, May 29, Northwestern Michigan College’s International Affairs Forum will present an event on journalism, media and information literacy in partnership with Interlochen Public Radio (IPR). IAF welcomes journalist and advocate Sharon Moshavi, president of the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), in conversation with Ed Ronco, news director at IPR.
Under Moshavi’s leadership, ICFJ develops and runs programs for its 132,000+ global network of reporters, editors and newsrooms, supporting them to report on critical issues, keep up with technological transformation, and find successful business models. Prior to ICFJ, Moshavi worked as Communications Manager at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. For more than a decade before that, Moshavi was based in New Delhi, Jerusalem and Tokyo, reporting from countries across Asia and the Middle East for The Boston Globe, Newsday, BusinessWeek, KQED, PRI, and The New Republic, among others.
Ed Ronco joined IPR as its news director in the summer of 2022, after eight years with KNKX Public Radio in Seattle/Tacoma, where he was the local host of All Things Considered. He’s an experienced reporter, interviewer and broadcaster, whose career has also included work in rural Alaska and northern Indiana.
Moshavi and Ronco will explore how journalists and trusted messengers can work together to help us navigate complex issues on the local, national and global news level. Moshavi shared her perspective on this a piece for the Nieman Lab at Harvard University, which seeks “to promote and elevate the standards of journalism”:
“We need to seek out these journalist-adjacent actors who share the same goal as many newsrooms of delivering actionable, trustworthy news and information to people — information that the public can use to make sense of the world and improve their lives and their societies. They just bring different tools and expertise to do it…Breaking through the information overload that we all experience today has to be front and center for journalism to be relevant and impactful. Cross-functional collaboration among stakeholders in the civic space creates a powerful path for getting there.”
The May 29 hybrid event at the Dennos Museum Center is open to the public and available to watch online. Admission is free for students, educators, all NMC employees and active-duty military members. Tickets are $15 per person for the general public. Reception begins at 5:30 p.m. with the program starting at 6:30 p.m. For in-person tickets, online tickets and all event details, visit TCIAF.com.
IAF’s 31st season is sponsored by Mercantile Bank.