Athens, Ga. – Leading journalists from across the U.S. will gather Oct. 22 at the University of Georgia to consider what journalistic courage means and how it is exemplified by reporters and editors.
The setting is the eighth annual McGill Symposium, which will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries. The event was organized in part by John F. Greenman, co-director of the McGill program and Carter Chair in Journalism at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. The McGill Symposium is not a public event. Limited seating is available to Grady College students and faculty.
The journalists are:
• Wiley Price, staff photographer, St. Louis American, St. Louis, Missouri
• Ken Belson, sports reporter, New York Times, New York, New York
• Antonio Mora, host, “Consider This,” Al Jazeera America, New York, New York
• Todd Frankel, reporter, The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.
Price has been covering events in Ferguson, Missouri, following the shooting of Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson. The session he will lead is “Ferguson, Missouri: When conflicts come home.” Senior Lecturer Mark E. Johnson will moderate the session.
Belson, who covers the NFL for the Times, will discuss “The NFL Beat: Exposing the ills in America’s favorite sport.” Professor Vicki Michaelis will moderate the discussion. Michaelis is the John Huland Carmical Distinguished Professor of Sports Journalism.
Mora will discuss “The Courage to ask tough questions.” Professor Carolina Acosta-Alzura will moderate.
Later that day, Mora will present the 36th McGill Lecture, a public event at 4 p.m. in Room 250 of the Zell B. Miller Learning Center.
Frankel, who returned Sept. 1 from reporting the Ebola story in West Africa, will discuss “Face-to-Face with Ebola: A Reporter’s Perspective.” Patricia Thomas, Knight Chair in Health and Medical Journalism, will moderate. On Oct. 23 at 4 p.m., Frankel will discuss his reporting at a public lecture in the UGA Chapel.
For more than 35 years, the McGill program has brought significant figures in journalism to the University of Georgia to help us honor Ralph McGill’s courage as an editor.
McGill, while editor and publisher of The Atlanta Constitution, was regarded as the “conscience of the south,” using the newspaper’s editorial pages to challenge segregation in the 1950s and 1960s. McGill was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1958 for “long, courageous and effective leadership.”
Established in 1978, this University of Georgia annual lecture series addresses major issues impacting the American press.
The McGill Symposium is funded by the McGill Lecture Endowment.
About Grady College
Established in 1915, the UGA Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication offers undergraduate majors in journalism, advertising, public relations, digital and broadcast journalism and mass media arts. The college offers two graduate degrees and is home to the Peabody Awards, internationally recognized as one of the most prestigious prizes for excellence in electronic media. For more information, see www.grady.uga.edu or follow @UGAGrady on Twitter.
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