How can community issues be fairly represented in the media? What does the media do well when reporting on gun violence in Chicago, and what stories still need to be told? What roles should the media play in developing solutions to gun violence and other pressing issues facing Chicago communities? The IHC and the Community Media Workshop invite you to a conversation with top media leaders and stakeholders December 10, following a screening of “Ricochet,” the MSNBC miniseries on gun violence in Chicago directed by journalist Stephen Franklin and Medill School of Journalism Professor Craig Duff.  

Panelists at the Columbia College event include Jim Kirk, Publisher/ Editor-in-Chief of Chicago Sun-Times; Alison Scholly, COO of Chicago Public Media; Janey Rountree, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s deputy chief of staff for public safety and Susy Schultz, president and executive director of CMW. The evening kicks off a three-month reporting project partnering journalists with community residents to produce multimedia stories on key community issues in Chicago. 

About the Panelists

Jim Kirk is Publisher/ Editor-in-Chief of Chicago Sun-Times and Senior Vice President of Sun-Times Media. Previously, he served as chief of editorial operations at Crain’s Chicago Business.

 

 

 

Elena Quintana, Ph.D. is Executive Director of the Institute on Public Safety & Social Justice at the Adler School of Professional Psychology. She is a clinical and community psychologist focused on research and programming designed to reclaim human potential and promote socially just solutions to address public safety concerns. Dr. Quintana was the Director of Evaluation for Ceasefire Chicago, the federally funded effort to reduce gun violence and helped to expand its efforts. She has developed shooting response protocols for hospitals, violence prevention efforts for schools, and has worked nationally and internationally, including in Iraq, to address violence prevention.

Janey Rountree is the Deputy Chief of Staff for Public Safety for Mayor Rahm Emanuel. In her role she coordinates the city’s youth violence prevention strategy and is the liaison to Chicago Police Department, Chicago Fire Department, Office of Emergency Management and the Independent Police Review Authority. Prior to joining the Chicago mayor’s office in May 2013, Janey was the Firearms Policy Coordinator for New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Chief Operating Officer for the bipartisan coalition Mayors Against Illegal Guns. Prior to her service in government, Janey was a criminal defense lawyer and high school teacher.

Alison Scholly is the Chief Operating Officer of Chicago Public Media, a non-profit institution that operates WBEZ Chicago 91.5FM, one of the country’s premiere public media institutions; Vocalo.org (89.5FM, 90.7FM 91.1FM) a start-up music station featuring hip hop and independent music; as well as national shows This American Life and Sound Opinions.  Since joining Chicago Public Media in 2010, she has been instrumental in expanding the programming, sales, marketing and technical operations for these important news and information providers.  Scholly is currently overseeing the expansion of Vocalo as an “urban alternative” music format directed at the next generation of public media. 

Susy Schultz is the president and executive director of Community Media Workshop and an adjunct professor in the journalism department at Columbia College Chicago. Her past titles include managing editor, digital editor, investigative editor, associate publisher, reporter, columnist and editorial writer.  She’s worked for newspapers, a wire service, websites and magazines covering politics, health care, business and parenting for the Chicago Sun-Times, The Chicago Reporter, Chicago Tribune, New York Times Syndicate and Chicago Parent as well as a frequent guest on radio and television shows.

Juliana Stratton is the Interim Executive Director of Cook County Justice for Children, an independent nonprofit organization that seeks to ensure the just and effective administration of the Cook County Juvenile Court. Prior to joining Cook County Justice for Children, Juliana served as the Executive Director of the Cook County Justice Advisory Council and Senior Policy Advisor to the Cook County Board President on matters relating to public safety.

 

 

This program is presented in partnership with the Community Media Workshop and is made possible in part by the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.

If you need a sign interpreter or require other arrangements to fully participate, please call 312.422.5580 at least 72 hours prior to the event. For parking locations near the facility, please visit ChicagoParkingMap.com.

For more information, please cal 312.422.5580.