Jerry Roberts to speak on ‘The First Amendment and the News Media Revolution’
Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA – Sep. 30, 2008 - On Oct. 5 at 7 p.m. journalist Jerry Roberts will be speaking on The First Amendment and the News Media Revolution at Whitman College in Maxey Auditorium.
Roberts is a Harvard graduate and an experienced journalist who has produced and presided over award-winning work, including positions as Managing Editor of the San Francisco Chronicle and Executive Editor of the Santa Barbara News-Press. Roberts is well-known for his journalistic integrity and recently received PEN USA’s 2007 First Amendment Award for exceptional courage in defending freedom of expression. He has also received other journalism ethics honors, including the National Ethics in Journalism Award from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Payne Award for Ethics from the University of Oregon journalism school.
Roberts’ recognition for journalistic ethics stems from a 2006 conflict at the Santa Barbara News-Press where socialite billionaire, Wendy McCaw, bought the newspaper. McCaw felt that as owner of the News-Press she had authority to choose its content, while the news editors and reporters felt her intervention unduly compromised the neutrality and credibility of the paper. Roberts was one of the first of five editors to resign in protest of McCaw’s behavior. The controversy is still continuing, and has incited in a $25 million lawsuit between Roberts and McCaw.
The News-Press controversy has drawn national and international attention, particularly on issues of individual ownership of news outlets by the wealthy but inexperienced, the role of daily newspapers in contemporary communities, the modern role of unions, and the limits of corporate legal restrictions on reporters, employees, competing news outlets, and community members.
In 2008, filmmaker Sam Tyler released a documentary called “Citizen McCaw”, spotlighting the News-Press controversy. At its premiere in Santa Barbara, the 85-minute documentary drew 2,200 viewers.
Roberts is also author of Never Let Them See You Cry, a biography of California Senator Dianne Feinstein. He currently serves as publications director and student mentor for the Daily Nexus, the independent student newspaper of the University of California Santa Barbara.
The event is open to the entire Whitman and Walla Walla community. It is sponsored by the Whitman Pioneer Medica Visiting Journalist Series.
