September 19, 2025
The Center for Ethical Leadership in Media (CELM) held a workshop in September for local media organizations’ interns and early-career professionals. Seven attended, representing several local print and broadcast media outlets. The workshop focused on communication internally (with editors) and externally (with sources) in the context of pitching and developing assigned stories. Center Director Kathleen McElroy, along with seasoned journalists and editors Andy Alford (currently with the Texas Tribune) and Abby Johnston (currently with The 19th), provided feedback and tips to attendees.
Post survey comments found the honest feedback from experienced editors valuable. One attendee noted “I think it was very helpful having people from different organizations to give us guidance.” Another stated “I liked the real-time feedback we were able to receive and apply. I learned to be more direct and straight-to-the-point.”
Attendees also provided suggestions for improvements to future workshops, including using real-world examples of pitches and adding some guidance about time management and the life cycle of a story. A consensus also emerged from the participants that early-career journalists would benefit from training on how to deal with hostile sources.
