Miran Halen spearheads fundraising activities by providing innovative and collaborative volunteer leadership for a diverse and vibrant range of non-profit organizations that promote performing arts throughout the St. Louis region. Proven success in creating, directing, managing, and executing media relations plans, to include photography and videography production. Versatile soprano of opera, symphony, chamber, and recital music.

Sarah Thompson is a PR, marketing and media specialist, working actively and extensively in the St. Louis market for more than 16 years.  She started Sarah Thompson LLC in 2009 after branching off on her own from a former St. Louis-based PR & brand reputation management agency. Sarah Thompson LLC’s client portfolio focuses on nonprofit organizations and small businesses in the areas of arts, culture and lifestyle. Sarah splits her time between her clients and media work. She is a three-time, Emmy Award-winning producer—and five-time nominee—receiving two Emmy Awards for arts & entertainment stories and one for a commercial campaign. Sarah is the host and producer of STL TV’s 30-minute program “City Corner,” which also airs on ABC30. For the past 12 years, she has served as the weekly on-air events contributor on KMOV’s “News 4 Great Day" and weekly host of STL TV’s “STL Live.”

Peggy Barnhart, a strategic communications professional, and a current commissioner on St. Louis County Board of Election, she is responsible for election oversight, including County ballot issues, voter registration and education, and election reporting, budget and efficiency.

Previously, Barnhart was director of communications and government relations for the American Red Cross. She also served in communications and community relations for two U.S. Senators: Christopher S. Bond and James M. Talent, and in the office of County Council Representative Edith Cunnane. Other career highlights include working for Peabody Energy as community relations manager. She also has worked as the public relations consultant for the City of Olivette, and as a freelance writer for Sverdrup Corporation and the St. Louis Post Dispatch. Prior to returning to St. Louis, she was a news reporter for the Grand Rapids Press and the Kalamazoo Gazette.

Barnhart is a graduate of Northwestern University, one of the nation’s top-ranked journalism schools, with a Master of Science in Journalism.

Joseph E. Martineau focuses his practice on media and communications law as well as intellectual property law, health law litigation, and complex commercial litigation. His clients include local and national major media representatives. Joe has tried cases in both the state and federal courts in Missouri and Illinois, and he has argued cases in the appellate and Supreme Courts in each state.

Joe writes articles and publications in the fields of defamation and invasion of privacy law, the First Amendment, and media law in general. An adjunct professor at Washington University for 20 years, he teaches a course on communications law. Furthermore, Joe frequently appears on panels and conferences dealing with media law issues, and he authored the Missouri Bar CLE Tort Law chapters on Defamation, Invasion of Privacy, and Reputational Damages.

Joe was selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2005-2021. Additionally, he was named by Best Lawyers "St. Louis Litigation - First Amendment Lawyer of the Year" for 2012, 2016, 2019, and 2021 and "St. Louis Media Lawyer of the Year" for 2017. He was selected for inclusion in Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers® 2009-2019, and he is AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell. Joe is the head of the Firm's Media Practice Committee.

When Getting the Story Isn't the Whole Story – Reporting on Trauma

Saturday, February 22
1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Missouri History Museum – AT&T Multipurpose Room (Lower Level) - 5700 Lindell

A free workshop for members of the media, journalism students and others on the impact of violence and trauma, exploring how they report stories and the way they cope with its effects on their own lives.

Speaker: University of Missouri – Columbia Prof. Katherine Reed, who often teaches about journalism and trauma. Among the topics she'll explore

* How do members of the media stay safe when covering conflict?
* What do we know about interviewing those affected by trauma that we didn't know even a few years ago?
* What are some of the best resources media may not know about when it comes to covering violence?
* How can media practice self-care in environments where it's not always stressed as important? What's effective?
* How can media handle anniversary stories without retraumatizing those affected by violence?
* What interesting journalism is being done using the best approaches?

RSVPs appreciated at info@stlpressclub.org, so we have an estimate on how many will attend.