The 2010 Census: Covering the Best Story of Your Life

Speakers LaBarbara Bowman [ASNE], Charlotte Hall [Orlando Sentinel] and Gregory Moore [The Denver Post] discuss the importance of this year, 2010, from a journalist's perspective in their workshop The 2010 Census: Covering the Best Story of Your Life. This year marks the year of the 2010 Census and as a journalist, this is a time when coverage means everything. The major theme of this year's census is: major racial changes in 21st century America,

"Cover the story as a human piece", said Hall. "It's amazing to see what makes a family a family, so don't just focus on the numbers," she said. To Hall, the 2010 census is a way for this 21st century America to see just how far we really have come as a people. It is a way for us to begin to know and learn about the people that make up this power-house of a country.

Moore, who serves as Senior Editor of the Denver Post shared an anecdote of people who he has encountered who are ignorant to who the people of the county are. Ignorant in terms of categorizing all latinos as Mexicans or Puerto Ricans, without taking the time to learn who they really are; their true countries of origin.

"We don't know who makes up our communities," said Moore. "We don't talk about our Indian communities, or being here in DC, our Ethiopian community. As journalists, we have the chance to go out and represent these communities with our coverage of the census," he added.

The breakdown for the 2010 Census Calendar dates are as follows:

April 1-April 16; U.S. residents mail back their census forms

May; Census workers visit every address that has not returned their census form

July; December; Crunching the numbers

Christmas Week; First numbers to show political winners and losers

For more information on the 2010 Census, including an up to date news room full of press materials, visit

-Compiled by Gerron Jordan, Howard University