Six representatives from Laney College attended the Journalism Association of Community Colleges (JACC) 2014 NorCal Conference at California State University, Sacramento on November 8, 2014. Vying for the perfect shot, students participating in the JACC news photo competition gathered around the main podium and let the camera flashes fly.
Multiple journalism competitions including news writing, news photo, editorial cartoon, and opinion writing centered around the keynote speech.
This year’s keynote speaker was Ian Hill, the executive producer for digital and social media at News10 in Sacramento, CA. The keynote speech, titled “Broccoli and Cake: Meeting the Challenges of Journalism Today,” elicited many questions, with few lacking the phrase “cake and broccoli.”
Without mention of censorship, corporate consolidation, or government spying, the talk focused on the shifting role of social media into the world of journalism. A large portion of workshops followed suite, including one presented by JACC’s Treasurer and Executive Secretary Kelly Goff titled “Tweet Me! Using Social Media to Report, Promote and Develop Your Stories.” 
Laney Tower Staff Writer Jason Rejali, who attended the conference, was excited by the subject. “I thought the keynote speech was interesting…I’ve been talking about it all week.” 
Rejali explained the cake and broccoli idea with an example. “Symptoms of Ebola isn’t something [the public] they’re going to click on to get to the cat video, but the cat video will take them to the symptoms of Ebola.” 
Other workshops focused on more traditional topics such as access to information, sports and opinion writing, copy editing, and landing an internship or a job. “I was surprised by the variety of journalists lecturing,” Rejali said.
The day ended with an enthusiastic awards ceremony. Laney’s own Alisha Thomas took home an award for on the spot news photography. Nevin Long also received recognition for his roll as Laney Tower’s Editor in Chief last semester in addition to a mail-in award for front page layout.