|
Experts to speak on First Amendment
Students and experts in the field of journalism will get a chance to bounce off ideas, questions and answers with each other Friday at the 30th annual First Amendment Forum.
This year, The First Amendment Forum is focusing on experts from the photojournalism field of work. Photojournalists are not just people at newspapers who take photos, the job description covers a wide variety of jobs that also includes television journalists.
With all of the challenges to the First Amendment on the SCSU campus during the 2001- 2002 school year, many students will have the opportunity to ask questions and find answers to their questions from a wide panel of experts who will be speaking at this event.
The First Amendment Forum is set to take place Friday in the Atwood Memorial Center's Little Theater. There will be discussions and presentations from the panel throughout the day starting at 8:30 a.m. and ending at 5 p.m.
The first presentation of the day will be given by John P. Borger, a media attorney who is well known and accredited with his work defending the media's right to the freedom of speech. Borger was recently awarded the First Amendment Defense Award in 2001. Borger will be available for a question and answer session at the end of his presentation.
Another feature presentation will be given by Linda Cullen, a freelance photojournalist from Minnesota. Cullen has had an extensive photojournalism career that has included work with major publications and businesses such as The Mall of America, General Mills, United Way, ESPN magazine, Virgin records and many others. Cullen has also been a photographer for Governor Jesse Ventura and the St. Paul Saints baseball team. Cullen recently returned from Pakistan, where she is undertaking a work-in-progress about the plight of Afghani and Pakistani women.
Michael Vadnie, an SCSU mass communications professor and co-coordinator of the event, came up with the idea to ask Cullen to speak at this year's forum.
"I heard Linda Cullen on the radio and I just knew that she would be a great speaker to have come," Vadnie said.
Vadnie is also excited about the panel that includes photojournalists from print media and television. These speakers will be the focus of the afternoon session of the First Amendment Forum.
"Our afternoon panel has a Pulitzer Prize winner on it," Vadnie said.
The panel of photojournalism experts will include John Stennes, the photo chief of the Grand Forks Herald (N.D.); Mike Knaak, the assisting managing editor of the St. Cloud Times; and Steve Rice, the photo editor of the Star Tribune. John Drilling, a TV photojournalist at KARE-11, will also be on the panel.
The afternoon panel will be giving the audience ideas and strategies for conceiving and accomplishing photo stories about breaking news and tragedy.
The panel will also be giving tips on how to access information at private and government sites. A presentation of news and feature photos will also be given by the experts.
The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) is in charge of running the First Amendment Forum. Gretchen Lundberg, the president of SCSU's SPJ chapter, encourages any student to attend the forum to learn about the First Amendment and how it affects everyone.
"This is a great way for students to network with professionals and learn about the First Amendment," Lundberg said.
Tracy Finch, vice president of SPJ at SCSU, said that she thinks the First Amendment Forum is a great way for students to learn about how the media deals with tragic events like those that have just happened recently.
"With the events that just happened in September, this will give students an idea of how journalists deal with such events," Finch said.
Geoff Higgins can be reached at: [email protected]
|
|
|
|
Privacy Policy Network Advertising Article Syndication
|
|
