MOUNT LAUREL, NJ (SBN) —A panel discussion on relations between the press, the police and the public drew a passionate audience to Rowan College at Burlington County last night. The discussion was co-sponsored by the New Jersey Society of Professional Journalists, the NAACP of Southern Burlington County, Rowan College and the Keystone Pro Chapter of SPJ.
State Broadcast News livestreamed the program, as members of the community described their frustrations with police misbehavior and press coverage of community complaints. The panel stemmed from a recent incident in Mount Laurel in which abusive and racist behavior by a white resident against residents of color led to his arrest after years of complaints were ignored.
You can watch the entire panel discussion in the video player below.
Panelists
Journalists
Melanie Burney, The Philadelphia Inquirer: Melanie joined the Inquirer in March 2000 as an education reporter, then served five years on the Inquirer’s editorial board. Currently, she is a general assignment reporter based in the Cherry Hill bureau. Born in Akron, Ohio, she grew up in Burlington County. She is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists, serving two terms as parliamentarian on the board of directors. She is also a member of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists. She is also a life member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., and a member of Theta Pi Omega Chapter in South Jersey. She is also in her second term as a member of the Rowan University Alumni Board of Directors.
Blake Nelson, NJ.com, New Jersey Advance Media: Blake covers the New Jersey attorney general’s office, state police and prison system for The Star-Ledger and NJ.com, where he was previously on the data and investigations team. He has covered the Missouri statehouse for The Associated Press, reported abroad for Public Radio International, filmed for The Wall Street Journal, hosted Investigative Reporters and Editors’ podcast, contributed reporting to The New Yorker and drawn for Poynter Institute. He spent several years writing for magazines in Guatemala and has shot video with UNICEF, World Vision and other non-profits throughout Africa, the Americas and the Caribbean. He earned a graduate journalism degree at the University of Missouri.
April Saul, WHYY: April Saul is a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist whose lifelong mission has been to help people understand each other better through her writing and photography. She fell in love with Camden in 2011 at a time when the city was bleeding badly, and left her staff job at The Philadelphia Inquirer to dedicate herself to covering the challenges and joys of Camden residents on her Facebook page, CAMDEN, NJ: A Spirit Invincible, where her essays about that city appear several times a month.
Law Enforcement & Academia
Thomas Eicher, Office of the New Jersey Attorney General
Dr. Amber Ciccanti served with the Willingboro Police Department as a patrol officer, detective, and sergeant. She has a master’s degree and a doctorate degree in the field of criminal justice and serves on the faculty of Rowan College at Burlington County.
Corey Jones served with the Mount Laurel Police Department for 25 years, retiring as a sergeant. He was also a member of the SWAT Team for over fifteen years and became one of the leaders of the Burlington County Regional Team. he is also an instructor in verbal de-escalation and weapons platforms at his business, Safetyman Consulting.
Joe Rizzo comes from a background in corrections, serving the New Jersey Department of Corrections first as an educator, then as an education director, next as an assistant superintendent, and lastly as superintendent (warden), of two different prisons. He is a faculty member with Rowan College at Burlington County in the Criminal Justice Department.
Community
Marcus Sibley is the Chairman of the New Jersey State Conference NAACP Environmental & Climate Justice Committee, Chairman of the New Jersey Progressive Equitable Energy Coalition (NJ PEEC), and the President of the historic Southern Burlington County NJ NAACP Branch. He is the the architect of the Empowerment Workshop Series and a graduate of Rutgers University, where he received undergraduate and graduate degrees in Social Work. Mr. Sibley is also the owner of consulting & integrated marketing company Sanaa17 LLC.
Tyrus Langston Ballard is the 1st Vice President and Political Action Chair for the Southern Burlington County NJ NAACP (SBCNJ NAACP), Sergeant at Arms for the South Jersey Young Democrats Black Caucus (SJYD-BC), a core member of Black Lives Matter NJ, and a coach for the Willingboro/Burlington chapter of the New Jersey Orators (NJO). He is a 3-time NAACP Freedom Fund Award recipient. One of Tyrus’s proudest accomplishments are his collaborations between SBC-NAACP and SJYD-BC to organize networking events for local activists and leaders.
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Steve Lubetkin is the news director for StateBroadcastNews.com. Steve’s journalism background includes print and broadcast reporting for NJ news organizations. He refocused on multimedia journalism and podcast production after a long career in corporate branded journalism and public relations.
He has won numerous awards for his audio and video news reporting from the Garden State Journalists Association, and he has also been recognized for video by the New Jersey Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He has produced a wide range of audio and video podcasts in his other role as managing partner of State Broadcast News’s parent, The Lubetkin Media Companies.
Steve is co-author, with Toronto-based podcasting pioneer Donna Papacosta, of the book, The Business of Podcasting: How to Take Your Podcasting Passion from the Personal to the Professional.
In March 2021, he was elected to the board of directors of the New Jersey Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, and in July 2021 he was named secretary of the chapter. In August 2021, he was honored by SPJ with one of the organization’s 2021 Howard S. Dubin Outstanding Pro Member Awards, given to regular members of an SPJ chapter who go above and beyond in serving their chapter.
Steve has been the computer columnist for the Jewish Community Voice of Southern New Jersey, since 1996.
Steve also has reported on-camera and produces virtual conferences for NJSpotlightNews.org, a public policy news coverage website focused on New Jersey government and industry; and for clients of StateBroadcastNews.com, a division of The Lubetkin Media Companies LLC.
From May-November 2019, he produced and reported a weekly podcast, The CRE News Hour, a news and features program focusing on the commercial real estate industry.
From 2014 to 2019 he was New Jersey and Philadelphia editor for GlobeSt.com and filled in covering Chicago/Midwest and Atlanta.
Steve has also served (from August 2017 to March 2018) as national broadcast news correspondent for CEOReport.com, a news website focused on practical advice for senior executives in small- and medium-sized companies.
Earlier in his career, Steve reported on rock music at the Jersey Shore for the Asbury Park Press, and was a broadcast news anchor and production engineer for WJLK-AM & FM, then owned by the Press. He also worked as a general assignment reporter for the Red Bank Register, Shrewsbury, NJ.
You can email Steve at steve@statebroadcastnews.com.
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