Georgia Bar, Media & Judiciary Conference

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The 2022 Georgia Bar Media & Judiciary Conference, in its 31st year, was virtual, with six sessions spread over three days—all centered on issues at the intersection of the First Amendment, journalism, courts and the law. The conference was the collaborative effort of a planning committee composed of journalists, judges and lawyers from across the state. The committee chose session topics and timing early, and then invited moderators and panelists to create timely and engaging sessions.

See the agenda and sponsor listings. Read panelist bios, and check out additional resources related to session topics.

Watch videos of the sessions:

• The Arbery Case: Lessons for Lawyers, Judges & the Media
• What’s Going On? Parents, the Press & Public Education
• Communicating in the Disinformation Age
• Guiding Georgia Law: The Race for Attorney General
• Disinformation & Polararization: Is Libel Law a Cause and/or a Cure?
• Election Central, Season 2: Covering Georgia Politics & Elections in 2022

See the agenda, including speaker, panelist and sponsor listings. Read panelist bios, and check out additional resources related to session topics.

WATCH THE VIDEOS

Schedule
Wednesday Feb. 24
3:30-5 p.m.: Coping with COVID-19: The Science & Our Society

Thursday, Feb. 25
2-3 p.m.: Reporting on the Pandemic: Access to the Data that Counts
3:30-5 p.m.: Elections in Modern Day Georgia

Friday, Feb. 26
11 a.m.-noon: The Pandemic and Georgia Courts: Where We Are & Where We’re Headed
1-2:30 p.m.: Meeting the Moment: Racial Justice, Law Enforcement & the Right to Protest
4-5 p.m.: The Media, Politics & Government in 2021

The 29th annual event on Feb. 28 was focused on issues at the intersection of the First Amendment, journalism, courts and the law. The day-long event, held at the State Bar of Georgia in downtown Atlanta, attracted nearly 170 attendees to thought-provoking discussions on a wide range of First Amendment issues and trends.

• Check out session materials and the final agenda and presenters’ bios.
• Read an extensive recap in the Georgia Bar Journal.
• Hear a replay of the live-from-the-conference broadcast of Political Rewind.
• See photos from the conference.
• Watch videos of conference sessions, courtesy of Nydia Tisdale.

“Law, Justice and the Holocaust” was the centerpiece session at the 2019 Georgia Bar Media & Judiciary Conference on Feb. 22 at the State Bar of Georgia Conference Center in downtown Atlanta. The day-long event focused on First Amendment issues, government transparency, free speech and more. The presentation by the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., explored the role lawyers and judges played in Germany’s transformation from a democracy to a dictatorship under Nazi rule.

Also on the schedule:

• New tests for the media: Keeping public trust in a polarized world
• City of Atlanta transparency
• New rules for public access to the courts
• Podcasting Georgia’s civil rights past
• Civility and free speech on college campuses
• WABE’s Political Breakfast, live and on the record

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms was the keynote speaker at the 2018 Georgia Bar Media & Judiciary Conference focused on First Amendment issues and government transparency. Bottoms, who participated in the conference as a candidate in 2017, addressed her administration’s perspective on openness and accessibility to citizens and the media.

The CNN-sponsored conference was held Feb. 23, at the State Bar of Georgia Conference Center in downtown Atlanta. The annual gathering, in its 27th year, drew judges, attorneys, journalists and citizens. On the agenda:

• A discussion of changes ahead for the Georgia Supreme Court and the state’s judicial system.
• A forum of candidates in the 2018 race for the governor’s office.
• A conversation with U.S. Supreme Court experts and advocates about First Amendment issues before the Court — and the possible ramifications for Georgia.
• An exploration of cultural challenges to the First Amendment emerging from generational changes, the power of “fake news” and more.
• Scenarios of how sexual harassment claims could play out in companies, courts and the halls of government in Georgia.

In addition, Georgia Public Broadcasting’s Political Rewind host Bill Nigut and his team of pundits and prognosticators talked politics in a session broadcast live from the conference.

The Georgia Bar Media & Judiciary Conference on Feb. 24 in downtown Atlanta offered attendees a view into how First Amendment issues were playing out across our state and nation. On the agenda of the CNN-sponsored conference:

• Public discourse in post-election America (keynote speech from CNN’s Brian Stelter)

• A conversation with state Attorney General Chris Carr about open government enforcement in Georgia
• What the public needs to know about disciplinary systems for doctors
• Challenges and opportunities of a new Georgia Judicial Qualifications Commission
• Medical, legal, privacy and journalistic issues in a public health crisis
• Georgia political roundup
• Atlanta mayoral candidates forum