I was recently given the opportunity to attend the 33rd Annual Associated Collegiate Press Conference from March 2nd to the 5th in San Francisco, California. The conference was held at the Hyatt Regency in the Financial District of the bay-area city. Because Her Campus is an online publication, we were able attend this conference free of charge courtesy of Pace University. Two other media organizations on campus were also in attendance, Pace Press and POP TV.
What exactly is the ACP conference, you might ask? Well, according to the organization’s website, “Through education training and recognition programs for members, the Associated Collegiate Press promotes the standards and ethics of good journalism as accepted and practiced by print, broadcast and electronic media in the United States.”
Within the conference, there were hundreds of different sessions on journalism, from topics such as fake news to making connections after college. Each session was presented by professionals who either work in journalism or students who are currently studying journalism. My fellow e-board and I decided to split up and try to attend as many sessions as possible, for a variety of information.
A favorite session of mine was about fake news. Two college students from the University of San Francisco introduced us to their online podcast, “Fake News,” and explained why they created it. They touched upon the credibility of news sources today and how they are losing it due to public figures, primarily President Trump, for discrediting accurate news stories. While their segments thus far have focused on the Democratic, liberal side of things, they will also release videos that focus on the Republican side as well. Their overall intent for their video podcasts is to raise awareness of fake news and to teach not only journalists but anyone, how to spot credibility/incredibility.
Cassandra Balado, current President of Her Campus at Pace, also attended the ACP conference and briefly spoke about the session she enjoyed most. “I really enjoyed the brainstorming session. It gave you ideas and techniques on how to gear your group towards thinking outside of the box when writing articles.”
Amoreena Crispino, of Pace Press, also attended the conference. Because she writes for a different publication than Her Campus, I asked how her experience at the conference was in comparison to ours, and what she took from it. She explained, “I loved the overall experience of being able to attend the Associated Collegiate Press Conference and aside from exploring San Francisco, the information sessions were really interesting.” She went on to describe her favorite session, “My favorite session was about fake news and fake media. Two speakers discussed how Facebook is full of fake news and that recently, it is hard to get people to pay attention to well-researched, fact-based news. People don’t really know the difference between real news and false information.”
While our main purpose in San Francisco was to attend the conference, we also had some down time to get some sightseeing in. We stopped by the main tourist attractions such as, the Golden Gate Bridge, Lombard Street, Ghirardelli Square, Haight-Ashbury and Fisherman’s Wharf. Most of San Francisco’s public transportation is a collection of old buses and trains from all over the world. This made the city vintage and colorful, which was one of my favorite parts.
This was an opportunity of a life time, not only was the Associated Collegiate Press conference very insightful and thought-provoking, but San Francisco was incredible as well. I had never been to California prior to this trip, so it is cool to say I went, all expenses paid, just for being involved on campus.
How were we able to attend a conference across the country on Pace’s dime? Well, here at Pace, each organization on campus has the opportunity to present a conference somewhere in the country in which they would like to attend that is related to their organization to SDACA. If approved and budgeted, Pace pays for everything – transportation, hotel, and conference fee included. This year they also refunded us for some of the money we spent on food! I think it is a great and educational gesture by Pace to give students who are really involved on campus a chance to see more of the world and learn more in their interests.
If you would like to know more about Her Campus here at Pace and see all the different types of stories we write you can visit, http://www.hercampus.com/school/pace.