OC alumni and professor to speak at the UCO Media Ethics Conference Oct. 4

One of Oklahoma City’s only journalism and media ethics conferences will feature four Oklahoma Christian University speakers this year. The University of Central Oklahoma’s Media Ethics Conference on Oct. 4 will include OC Journalism alumni Reese Gorman, Bobby Ross, Mark Thomas and Distinguished Professor of Communication Philip Patterson. 

The student-run conference includes a panel of local and international speakers who will debate and express opinions on the state of journalism. The theme of this year’s conference is “The Future of Media: Are Ethics a Part of it?” This event will be in UCO’s Communications Building and on the conference’s Facebook Live feed from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Gorman is the state politics reporter at the Frontier news website in Oklahoma City, and Thomas is the executive director of the Oklahoma Press Association. Ross is an award-winning religion writer who currently serves as the editor-in-chief at the Christian Chronicle, and Patterson is the longtime lead author of the best-selling media ethics textbook “Media Ethics: Issues and Cases.” Patterson also has spoken at the conference in previous years. 

“All four of these journalism professionals are highly respected at both the national and local levels, and they have represented OC well in their careers,” said Josh Watson, associate professor of communication at OC and a past panelist at the conference. “The free event really is a great opportunity for mass communication students and professionals in the area.”