COVERING ARIZONA’S
FISCAL ECONOMIC CHALLENGES
An Economics Conference for Journalists

Sponsored by
The Communications Institute
Arizona Republic – Arizona Daily Star – Arizona Capitol Times
Arizona Newspaper Association

Funded by the
Thomas R. Brown Foundations

November 16, 2009
Arizona Republic
Phoenix
 

Journalists from throughout Arizona took part in a day-long educational conference designed to help reporters and editors in their coverage of the critical fiscal/economic issues impacting communities throughout the state.

This interactive conference featured a faculty of experts who helped participants improve their knowledge and provide helpful context with the goal of strengthening content. Some of Arizona's top newspapers are joining together to provide this forum for journalists.

The Communications Institute (TCI)coordinated the conference. TCI is a consortium of leading academic and research institutions focused on critical issues and also provides non-partisan educational programs and resources for journalists. The Institute staff have more than 30 years of experience conducting these sorts of programs that have reached more than 20,000 reporters and have been funded by nearly every major newspaper and broadcast group in the nation.

The journalism conference is part of the Governing Arizona project conducted by the Thomas R. Brown Foundations and TRBF.

Content

The conference will include:

• The Economics of Government - An economics primer for journalists on government tax and revenue policies and their relationship to the overall economy.
• Covering State Fiscal Issues:  Putting Arizona in a National Context - Arizona is one of many states facing serious fiscal economic challenges. This session puts Arizona revenue and spending policies in a national context.
• Governing Arizona: Evaluating Arizona’s State Spending and Revenue and the Challenges Ahead - This session is based upon a new report which will be released to the public the day after this journalism conference that is a 30-year summary of Arizona state government revenue and spending patterns.  Journalists will be provided a copy of research for use in future coverage of these stories on both the state and local levels.
• Journalist Roundtable Discussion - Journalists will join with faculty to discuss story ideas and approaches to fiscal and economic issues at the state, local, and national levels.

Faculty

The forum will feature a leading faculty of experts including:

• Stephen Happel, Ph.D.
  Professor of Economics,  Arizona State University;  Associate Dean and Professor in the College of Business since 1992
  Happel has received numerous state and national teaching awards and is an expert on finance issues.
• Daniel B. Rodriguez, J.D.
  Minerva House Drysdale Regents Chair in Law,  University of Texas
  Rodriguez is an expert on state fiscal and governance issues and formerly taught law at the University of California, Berkeley and UC San Diego.
• Alan Maguire
  President, the Maguire Company; Fiscal Advisor to Arizona Governors and Legislators Maguire has 35 years of experience specializing in Arizona's fiscal management and also serves as the Director of Research for Governing Arizona.