261 LEARN MORE ABOUT SECRECY, PRIVACY, DECEPTION AT MTSU EVENTS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Feb. 12, 2007
EDITORIAL CONTACTS: Dr. Thomas W. Cooper, 615-904-8281
Gina E. Fann, 615-898-5385

National Media Ethics Summit Features Public Film Screening, Lecture, Q&A

(MURFREESBORO)—Americans concerned with secrecy, privacy, media bias and deception can learn more about ethics and have their views heard at a series of free public events scheduled at Middle Tennessee State University during the upcoming U.S. Media Ethics Summit.
The summit, a four-day roundtable gathering of invited national media and academic professionals aiming to mend journalism’s increasingly flawed reputation, will feature a film screening on government secrecy Feb. 28, a lecture on “Technology and the Future of Media Ethics” March 1 and a March 2 open forum on the gathering’s recommendations for change.
On Wednesday, Feb. 28, at 7:30 p.m., filmmaker and Harvard University professor Robb Moss will screen his latest work, “Secrecy,” a collaboration with Peter Galison exploring the world of government secrecy, in Room 221 of MTSU’s Learning Resource Center. The screening will be followed by a public question-and-answer period from 9 until 9:30 p.m.
On Thursday, March 1, at 7:30 p.m., Adam Clayton Powell III, a veteran newsman and University of Southern California professor, will lecture on new technologies and their impact on important ethical issues including privacy. The lecture also will be held in LRC Room 221.
On Friday, March 2, the public is invited to ask questions and comment on the summit attendees’ plan to improve media ethics education, policy and practice on a national scale. That event is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. in the State Farm Room (Room 102) of the university’s Business and Aerospace Building. Organizers then plan to take the summit’s recommendations to U.S. government, media industry and education leaders to see them implemented.
Sponsored by the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, MTSU, the Scripps Howard Foundation and other donors, the Summit II marks the 20th anniversary of the first Media Ethics Summit Conference co-sponsored by the Times Mirror Foundation and Emerson College in 1987.
More details, including accessible parking for the events, may be found at www.mtsu.edu/~masscomm/ethics/ethics_index.html.

—30—
NOTE: Media needing technical accommodations to cover the March 2 open session should contact the Office of News and Public Affairs via e-mail at gfann@mtsu.edu or by calling 615-898-5385 ASAP to ensure accessibility. For color headshots of the principal speakers and organizers, please use the same contact information. Thanks!