CJC hosts inaugural Florida Natural Disaster and Journalism Summit
On March 9, journalists and communicators from across Florida and beyond gathered in Gainesville for the inaugural Florida Natural Disaster and Journalism Summit. This two-day event, organized by Assistant Professor of Journalism Antoine Haywood, Managing Director of the Consortium on Trust in Media and Technology Janet Coats and Independent Audience and Product Strategist Ariel Zirulnick, aimed to prepare participants to report on and serve their communities during disasters through panels and discussions. It was created by the UF College of Journalism and Communications (UFCJC) in partnership with the Miami Foundation, Press Forward South Florida, Press Forward Tampa Bay and Press Forward North Florida.
The summit began with a Monday night reception at Wooly’s in downtown Gainesville, where the event’s organizers introduced themselves and guests got a chance to network and discuss their goals for the next day over dinner. Before the night was over, Haywood encouraged guests to leave ideas and suggestions for future summits before they left, aiming to make this a regular event at UFCJC.
The next morning, guests convened at the Hilton Hotel for the main event: a series of panels, presentations and discussions hosted by guests from colleges and news organizations around the Southeast U.S. The first panel was moderated by Collier Prize Director Rick Hirsch and featured WUFT Senior Meteorologist Megan Borowski, UFCJC Director of Media Properties Randy Wright and former FEMA administrator Craig Fugate. Together, they discussed the increasing power of storms and how journalists can adapt to these storms while also touching on the impact of social media and how news bias can affect preparation and news coverage. The second panel, hosted by Janet Coats and featuring Atlas Lab Director Nathan Carpenter, Trusting News Executive Director Joy Mayer and Assistant Professor of Journalism at the University of Maryland Christoph Mergerson, continued the discussion of social media and how it caused mis- and dis-information to spread during disasters. For the third and final panel, Press Forward Communications Director Marika Lynch and four North Carolinian journalists, Laura Lee, Jason Sandford, José Sandoval and Patricia Serrano, shared their experiences with Hurricane Helene in 2024 and the lessons it taught them.
With the last panel complete, UFCJC Dean Hub Brown shared some remarks, expressing gratitude to those in attendance and stressing the importance of summits like this. “We may be training the next generation of journalists, but we are also a resource for all communications professionals in the state,” he explained. “We hope this summit is the start of a conversation that moves all of our work forward.”
After a break for lunch, Haywood once again took the stage to give a presentation on community mapping and communication networks, which have been the focus of his research for over two decades. In his talk, he explained the importance of listening to community members, familiarizing yourself with their areas and cultures and meeting them where they are, especially in times of crisis. He also described Communication Infrastructure Theory and the significance of storytelling networks, inviting everyone in attendance to identify a group within their community that they would like to reach and how they could gather info on those groups.
Day two of the summit ended with a series of breakout sessions, where guests broke off to join guest speakers in smaller discussion groups. The nine discussion groups, which were split into three waves of three groups, covered topics like trust-building, bilingual collaboration, gathering public records and crowdsourcing for fact-checking, visuals and stories. Finally, guests gathered back together for a closing session, where Haywood prompted reflection and discussion using some final questions for the group.
For those unable to attend, recordings and notes from the summit will be made publicly available in the coming weeks. “We want to share this knowledge and spread the good thinking that comes out of this event,” said Coats.
Category: College News
Tagged: Antoine Haywood Environmental Communication Janet Coats
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