Athens, Ga. – A Web site focused on journalistic courage has been developed by the University of Georgia Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.
The site, which is the online home of the McGill Lecture, Symposium and Medal, is posted at www.grady.uga.edu/mcgill.
The Web site “demonstrates significant, recent growth of the McGill program,” said John F. Greenman, Carter Professor of Journalism.
The McGill Lecture has brought significant figures in journalism to the University of Georgia for nearly 30 years to honor Ralph McGill’s courage as a newspaper editor. In 2007, Greenman added the McGill Symposium, bringing together students, faculty and leading journalists to consider what journalistic courage means and how it is exemplified by reporters and editors.
Plans call for awarding the first McGill Medal in early 2009 to a U.S. journalist whose career has exemplified journalistic courage.
“All of this is for a single purpose: to advance journalistic courage,” Greenman noted.
Among the features on the site are:
- A report on domestic and international awards, fellowships and grants that are based, in whole or in part, on journalistic courage;
- A selected, annotated bibliography on journalistic courage;
- Case studies in journalistic courage prepared by McGill Fellows, undergraduate and graduate students selected by a faculty committee for their strengths in academic achievement, practical experience and leadership;
- PDFs of 25 previous McGill Lectures, dating from the earliest in 1979 by Eugene Patterson, to the most recent in 2008 by Hannah Allam.
“We hope the site will be used by journalists, scholars and the public to pursue questions and concerns about journalistic courage,” said Diane Murray, director of public service and outreach.
Coming next on the site is a form permitting the nomination of journalists for the McGill Medal.
Established in 1915, the UGA Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication offers seven undergraduate majors including advertising, broadcast news, magazines, newspapers, public relations, publication management and telecommunication arts. The college offers two graduate degrees, and is home to WNEG-TV, the Knight Chair in Health and Medical Journalism and 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.