Power Shift Project for Workplace Integrity

Power Shift Project

The Power Shift Project is a training initiative designed to improve the quality and future of journalism by improving the diversity, equity and culture of news organizations. The project’s goal is workplace integrity, defined as environments free of harassment, discrimination and incivility, and filled with opportunity, especially for those who have traditionally been denied it.

The Power Shift Project offers training specifically for media organizations and journalism classrooms. Workplace Integrity: Train the Trainers is a two-part workshop that prepares people to deliver the training in their own organizations. The curriculum is built around four pillars: critical thinking, courageous conversations, qualifying as an ally and cultures of respect and trust.

The project also offers two hourlong webinars that are free and open to the public but designed specifically to make an impact in news organizations and in journalism education. In the Inclusive Leadership webinar, participants learn eight practical things that inclusive leaders know and do. The webinar Do You Qualify As An Ally? focuses on how to be a trusted force for good.

The curriculum is built around four pillars: critical thinking, courageous conversations, qualifying as an ally and cultures of respect and trust.

Jill Geisler, the Bill Plante Chair in Leadership and Media Integrity at Loyola University Chicago, designed a curriculum for this project in consultation with Cathy Trost, Chief Engagement Officer/Senior Vice President of the Freedom Forum. Geisler is a renowned expert in leadership and management and a former TV news director.

Upcoming Schedule

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Workplace Integrity Training

The national reckoning about diversity, equity and inclusion since the #MeToo movement caused media leaders to redouble their efforts to address these issues inside their organizations and create spaces where people feel they belong and can flourish.

The Workplace Integrity: Train the Trainers curriculum is designed to support and strengthen those initiatives in news organizations and colleges and universities where journalists are trained. The goal is to produce environments free of harassment, discrimination and incivility and filled with opportunity, especially for those who have been traditionally denied it.

The curriculum was designed by Jill Geisler, the Bill Plante Chair in Leadership and Media Integrity at Loyola University Chicago, in consultation with Cathy Trost, Chief Engagement Officer and Senior Vice President/Freedom Forum. The curriculum is tailored for media organizations and is not intended for use in other industries. While the material was designed with newsrooms in mind, it also has application in classrooms and other departments of a news organization including human resources and sales.

The Workplace Integrity: Train the Trainers curriculum is designed to support and strengthen those initiatives in news organizations and colleges and universities where journalists are trained.

The training has four modules that are taught over two consecutive days in 2 ½ -hour sessions via Zoom. At the end of the training, participants receive a kit with all the materials needed to teach all four modules of the curriculum.

Free Webinars

Inclusive Leadership

Inclusive leaders advance the success and sense of belonging among all staff members, especially those who have traditionally been excluded or underrepresented. This free hourlong webinar teaches participants from news organizations and journalism schools the eight things inclusive leaders know and do. The advice is practical, the examples are authentic, the insights come from research, and guidance comes from longtime advocates for diversity, equity and inclusion in journalism and beyond.

Do You Qualify As An Ally?

An ally is a trusted force for good. This webinar provides practical insights for journalists, educators and others working in news organizations who want to fight inequity and be better advocates for change.

FAQ

Testimonials

Amy Eisman

“I love the word ‘shift’ as part of the title because we have been shifting goals. We hold on to the original goals but shift to new ones as they come up. Our students are hungry, hungry, hungry for leadership guidance.”

Amy Eisman, Director, Journalism Division, American University

Amy Eisman
Fareed Mostoufi

“Having staff be the trainers really shifted the sense of responsibility. … We were holding ourselves accountable to everything we said and did.”

Fareed Mostoufi, Associate director of education and DEI lead, Pulitzer Center

Fareed Mostoufi
Tamara Buck

“[Students’] coverage is richer and much more thoughtful. I love listening to them debate about issues of equity and inclusion as they are … putting together the stories they cover.”

Tamara Zellars Buck, chair, department of mass media, Southeast Missouri State University

Tamara Buck
Elisa Lees Muñoz

“Our focus for the last couple of years and for 2022 is around safety. You really can’t have gender equity without safety, and you can’t have press freedom without a diverse news media.”

Elisa Lees Muñoz, Executive director, International Women’s Media Foundation

Elisa Lees Muñoz