MADISON, WI — Religious faith remains a key component of public and private life in the United States. Yet, America’s religious landscape is shifting, and as a result news coverage of religion has never been more important.

The Madison chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, the Lubar Institute for the Study of the Abrahamic Religions at UW-Madison, the UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and the Stephen & Laurel Brown Foundation invite you to a major national conference on journalism and religion.

“Reporting on Religion: Media, Belief and Public Life” will give journalists an opportunity to explore one of the most important, sensitive and controversial topics in contemporary America.

The one-day conference – held Monday, March 14, 2016, in Madison WI — will feature journalists and scholars who will help journalists and students gain a deeper understanding of the role religion plays in public life, how religion is represented – or not – in the news media today, and how to improve reporting of this important subject. The conference will culminate in a keynote address, open to the public, by television journalist David Gregory, the author of “How’s Your Faith? An Unlikely Spiritual Journey” and the former moderator of Meet the Press.

Registration is now open. Click here for the conference website, and to register.

Follow us on Twitter @reportreligion.

The conference lineup includes sessions on:

• “America’s Changing Religious Landscape.” Besheer Mohamed, senior researcher for the Pew Center on Religion and Public Life, will present Pew’s groundbreaking research on religion in America. Cathy Lynn Grossman, senior reporter, Religion News Service, will comment.
• “How the Press Covers Religion and Spirituality” with Grossman, James Davis, contributor to GetReligion.org and The Florida Catholic, Chuck Stokes, editorial/public affairs director, WXYZ-TV, Detroit, and Jaweed Kaleem, senior religion reporter, Huffington Post.
• Some of the hottest issues surrounding religion and public life in the U.S., including the conservative and liberal divide in Catholicism and other Christian faiths, fast-growing U.S. religions, and religious extremism. With Doug Erickson, religion and education reporter for the Wisconsin State Journal, Bob Smietana, news editor, Christianity Today, and Dilshad Ali, managing editor, Patheos Muslim Portal.
• “A Journey Through New York City Religions” with Tony Carnes. Carnes has documented religion in the nation’s largest city for the last five years.
• “Religious Freedom and Freedom of Conscience,” a wide-ranging discussion featuring religious advocates, with a response from David Gregory, former moderator, Meet the Press.

More information about the conference lineup, the conference organizers and logistical details can be found here.

The conference is generously underwritten by the Lubar Institute and the Stephen & Laurel Brown Foundation, creators of Upper|House. It will be held at Upper|House, 365 East Campus Mall, adjacent to UW-Madison’s Vilas Hall.

Patron sponsors include the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association, the Wisconsin Newspaper Association, the Wisconsin State Journal and WKOW-TV. The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism is a supporting sponsor.

Registration includes lunch and is free for students, $15 for SPJ members, and $30 for non-SPJ members. The conference is aimed at journalists, but is open to the general public.
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The American wheat beer will debut March 16 at a celebration of Sunshine Week, the annual event honoring open government and the First Amendment. The celebration takes place from 6-9 p.m. at Next Door, 2439 Atwood Ave., Madison.

Sunshine Wheat features brewers malt, flaked wheat and crystal wheat from Wisconsin-based Briess Malt and Ingredients Company and Brewer’s Gold hops from Gorst Valley Hops of Mazomanie. It will feature an exotic dry hop. Sunshine Wheat will hold 4.8 percent alcohol-by-volume, 22 IBUs and a 5.6 SRM.

The Wisconsin Newspaper Association is the lead sponsor of the SPJ Madison-Next Door Brewing event. Other sponsors include WKOW, Wisconsin State Journal, With Gusto, Isthmus, and the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism.

SPJ Madison, Next Door Brewing collaborate on American wheat beer to honor the First Amendment, open government and Wisconsin journalism

MADISON – The Madison chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and Next Door Brewing invite journalists and advocates of open government to celebrate Sunshine Week with the tapping of Sunshine Wheat, an American wheat beer featuring local hops and malts, on Monday, March 16.

The celebration takes place from 6-9 p.m. at Next Door Brewing, 2439 Atwood Avenue, Madison. The first 50 attendees will receive a souvenir beer glass thanks to the generous lead sponsorship of the Wisconsin Newspaper Association. WKOW-TV, the Wisconsin State Journal, Schott, Bublitz and Engel, and the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism are supporting sponsors. Two tickets to upcoming Isthmus events – Isthmus Food Cart Fest, Paddle & Portage, Beer & Cheese Fest — will be awarded in a drawing, courtesy of Isthmus. With Gusto is making a poster for the event, prints of which will be available for $15 each.

Next Door head brewer Bryan Kreiter will speak about creating the beer and his use of local ingredients at 7 p.m. He will be followed with remarks by WNA executive director Beth Bennett about Sunshine Week.

Invited special guests include Wisconsin food and beer writers Chris “Beer Baron” Drosner, Robin Shepard, Laurel White, Linda Falkenstein, Barry Adams, Kathy Flanigan and George Zens.

March 16 is the 264^th anniversary of the birth of James Madison, father of the First Amendment and the man for whom the City of Madison is named. Sunshine Week, a national event in support of open government, runs March 15-21.

The event is free, and all area journalists are welcome to attend. There will be a cash bar; appetizers will be provided. RSVPs are appreciated to [email protected].

Based in Indianapolis, SPJ is a national membership organization that promotes high professional and ethical standards among journalists, First Amendment principles and the belief that a free and vigorous press is vital in a representative democracy. The Madison professional chapter was formed around 1990. Membership costs $75 annually, and it is open to journalists who spend at least half of their professional life writing or editing work for publication.

Contact: Mark Pitsch, [email protected]; 608-252-6145

Those are among the items you can win at the annual Holiday Mixer and Raffle hosted by the Madison pro chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists in conjunction with the Capitol press corps. All proceeds from the event will be donated to the Tom Mulhern Scholarship for Sports Journalism at UW-Madison. The first scholarship will be awarded in April.

The mixer and raffle will be held on Thursday, Dec. 18, from 6-10 p.m. at the Argus Bar, 123 E. Main St., just a block off the Capitol Square. The party will take place in the downstairs bar. All area journalists and journalism supporters are invited, and the event is free.

Once again the party will feature a pot-luck meal, so please bring an appetizer, side dish, main dish or dessert to share.

The raffle will take place at approximately 8 p.m. The Packers-Lions tickets will be raffled off separately.

Pre-sale of raffle chances for the Packers-Lions tickets only, at a cost of $15 for one chance and $25 for two chances, will begin Thursday, Dec. 11. Chances will be available in Madison from Mark Pitsch at Capital Newspapers, 1901 Fish Hatchery Road; Joe Radske at Channel 3 studios, 7025 Raymond Road; Lauren Fuhrmann at the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism offices at the UW-Madison School of Journalism, 5006 Vilas Hall, 821 University Ave.; and Rebecca Wasieleski at UW School of Medicine and Public Health, K4/761, 600 Highland Ave.

The raffle features more than $750 in prizes, including:

* Two 35-yard-line tickets to the Packers-Lions game on Dec. 28, courtesy Aaron Popkey and the Green Bay Packers ($200 value)

* Aerial photograph of Lambeau Field, courtesy Andy Manis ($150 value)

* Two tickets to Isthmus Beer & Cheese Fest, courtesy Isthmus ($100 value)

* Food Fight gift certificate, courtesy Wisconsin State Journal ($100 value)

* Two 6-bottle wine packages, courtesy Wisconsin Radio Network ($60 value, each)

* Gift certificate, Next Door Brewing, courtesy Madison SPJ ($50 value)

* Up to 90-minute “behind the scenes” tour of Camp Randall and the Kohl Center for four to eight people, courtesy Justin Doherty and UW Athletics. NOTE: High-school athletes are not eligible to participate in the tour.

* Three, $10 gift certificates to Madison breweries, courtesy Rebecca Wasieleski

* UW Health gift package, courtesy UW Health

* Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism beer stein, courtesy WCIJ

* WISC-TV coffee cup four-pack, courtesy WISC-TV

* 6-pack Beer Baron sampler, courtesy Chris Drosner, “aka” Beer Baron

* Numerous books by Wisconsin journalists and authors, courtesy Wisconsin State Journal

New raffle items may be added prior to the event.

SPJ members and journalists who renew their memberships or join the organization on the night of the party will receive a free drink. Journalists or news organizations that would like to donate raffle items should contact Mark Pitsch, [email protected].

Award winners were announced April 23.

The Madison pro chapter congratulates Hands.

The panel — George Stanley, managing editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; John Smalley, editor of the Wisconsin State Journal; Bill Lueders, Money and Politics project director at the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, and Kathleen Culver, professor at the UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communications — discussed whether journalists should be able to sign gubernatorial recall petitions and other ethical issues surrounding the recall of Gov. Scott Walker. The panel was sponsored by the Madison pro chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

To access the audio and video, go here.

The awards, by the Society of Professional Journalists, honor excellence in print, television, radio and online journalism. More than 1,700 entries were reviewed.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel was honored for investigative reporting among newspapers with a circulation of greater than 100,001.

For more information, and a list of all winners, go here.

They will serve one-year terms. The next elections will be held in April 2013.