Diversity in the media will be the focus on the School of Journalism and Mass Communications Sixth Annual Spuler Media Ethics Symposium at San Jose State University on April 30, 2014, from 6:30-8 p.m. in Engineering 189.

“Over the years, the wide range of approaches to media messages about diversity have showcased both sensitivity and uncertainty about how to address the subject,” said Robert Rucker, former CNN correspondent and current director of SJSU’s School of Journalism and Mass Communications, in a press release. “We’ve worried so much about offending people we’ve missed out on opportunities to really know and appreciate one another.”

Lecturers from the College of Applied Sciences and Arts will serve as panel members along with local broadcast journalists. The panel includes: Dona Nicols, JMC Lecturer; Dr. Vernon Andrews, Lecturer, SJSU’s Kinesiology Department; Lloyd LaCuesta, JMC lecturer and former South Bay Bureau Chief, KTVU; and Janelle Wang, Anchor, NBC Bay Area News.

JMC Associate Professor Dr. Matthew Cabot will be the moderator for the symposium. The event is free of charge and refreshments will be served.

The Spuler Symposium is named after Phil and Dean Spuler, who met at SJSU in the late 1940s as staff members of the Spartan Daily newspaper and the La Torre yearbook. After graduating from SJSU, the Spulers both had successful careers as professional journalists.

The Spuler estate in 2008 created an endowed fund for media ethics in the hope that students who are passionate about journalism will be able to achieve their goals for generations to come.

To watch a video about the event, click: https://vimeo.com/89758215