This webinar from CLA's Liberal Arts In Action series features Gayle Golden in dialogue with journalists from several Twin Cities media outlets.
On Friday, January 23, 2026, the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication and the University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts convened leading scholars, journalists and community voices for a series of panel discussions exploring how liberal arts expertise shapes our understanding of today's most pressing civic issues — from the role of the media and constitutional rights to the lived impacts of state-sanctioned violence.
In a moment marked by deep political polarization and urgent questions around immigration enforcement and public safety, this event interrogated how language, law, ethics and community narratives inform our response to current events. Panelists engaged in rigorous dialogue that bridged academic insight with real-world consequence to discover how the liberal arts help us make sense of conflict, community and our shared civic future.
This session was the fourth of four that took place that day. For details and links to video of all four, visit CLA's Liberal Arts in Action: Responding to This Historic Moment.
Community Journalism when ICE is in the Community
Chair: Gayle (G.G.) Golden (Hubbard School)
Panel: Jon Collins (MPR); Brian Arola (MinnPost); Shubhanjana Das (Sahan Journal); Madison McVan (Minnesota Reformer)
Journalists on the ground in communities are uniquely positioned to build trust, or rely on already-created trust, to more deeply document people's experience at this moment. This conversation with local journalists in the Twin Cities who have experience reporting in and for their communities. The conversation will include a look at the journalist's role compared to that of observers who are recording/documenting the operations. How are those roles distinct? Does the public understand the difference between observers and journalists? It will also explore the way close-in reporting can promote empathy in times of strife.
To view other journalism sessions from this Liberal Arts in Action webinar, visit:
Beyond Documenting: The Role of the Photojournalist When Everyone is Recording