[128]AWARD-WINNING JOURNALISTS TACKLE U.S. ELECTION OCT. 8 AT MTSU

AWARD-WINNING JOURNALISTS TACKLE U.S. ELECTION OCT. 8 AT MTSU
CNN’s Crowley, Pulitzer Winner Mears Among Speakers at Free Event

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 30, 2008
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Beverly Keel, 615-898-5150

(MURFREESBORO)—CNN’S Candy Crowley and Pulitzer Prize-winner Walter Mears are among the nationally recognized journalists who will discuss the presidential election at MTSU’s KUC Theater on Wednesday, Oct. 8.
“History in the Making: Press Coverage of the Presidential Campaign” is fourth in a yearlong series sponsored by the Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies that examines the media and the presidential election. The event is free and open to the public.
“I am delighted that these award-winning journalists will share their observations about this history-making presidential election with the MTSU community,” said Beverly Keel, director of the Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence. “Their experiences with numerous presidential campaigns of the past will provide insights that will help us better understand the current election.”
At 10:30 a.m., Walter Mears will present the lecture, “On the Campaign Trail: 48 Years of Covering Presidential Politics.”
Mears, who covered 11 presidential campaigns, was a national political reporter, Washington bureau chief, executive editor, vice president and columnist during a 45-year career with The Associated Press. He won the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting in 1977 for his coverage of the 1976 presidential campaign.
“The Morning After: Who Won the Presidential Debates?”, a panel that will discuss the previous night’s presidential debates in Nashville, will be held at 11:30 a.m. Mears will be joined by Bill Kovach, John Mashek and John Seigenthaler on the panel, which will be moderated by Keel.
Kovach, the founding director of the Committee of Concerned Journalists, has been a journalist for more than 50 years. He is a former Washington Bureau Chief of The New York Times, editor of the Atlanta (Ga.) Journal-Constitution and curator of the Nieman Fellowships at Harvard University. Kovach is co-author of “The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect” and “Warp Speed: America in the Age of Mixed Media.”
Mashek, who covered every presidential campaign from 1964 until 1992, was an active journalist for 40 years, starting as a local reporter for the Dallas Morning News in 1955 and ending with retirement in 1995 as the national political correspondent in Washington for the Boston Globe. He was a panelist in three presidential debates—Bush-Ferraro in 1984, Bush-Dukakis in 1988 and Bush-Clinton-Perot in 1992—and in retirement has taught journalism at the Medill School of Northwestern University.
Seigenthaler, for whom MTSU’s Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence is named, is chairman emeritus of The Tennessean and founder of the First Amendment Center. A former president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, he also was the founding editorial director of USA Today and served in that position for a decade. He served on the 18-member National Commission on Federal Election Reform organized in 2001 by former Presidents Carter and Ford.
At 12:40, Crowley will present “One on One with Candy Crowley,” in which she will share her thoughts and observations about the presidential campaign.
Crowley is CNN's award-winning senior political correspondent based in the network’s Washington, D.C., bureau. Her assignments have taken her to all 50 states and around the world. She plays a pivotal role in CNN’s America Votes 2008 coverage. She was also part of the network’s Emmy award-winning 2006 mid-term election coverage and has covered all but one of the national political conventions since the presidential nomination of Jimmy Carter.
For more information, contact Beverly Keel at 615-898-5150 or bkeel@mtsu.edu.

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IN BRIEF: CNN’S Candy Crowley and Pulitzer Prize-winner Walter Mears are among the nationally recognized journalists who will discuss the presidential election at MTSU’s Keathley University Center Theater on Wednesday, Oct. 8. “History in the Making: Press Coverage of the Presidential Campaign” is fourth in a yearlong series sponsored by the Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies that examines the media and the presidential election. The event, which is free and open to the public, begins at 10:30 a.m. For more information, contact 615-898-5150 or e-mail bkeel@mtsu.edu.


For MTSU news and information anytime, visit www.mtsunews.com.

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ATTENTION, MEDIA: For color JPEGs of the event principals, please contact Gina E. Fann in the Office of News and Public Affairs via e-mail at gfann@mtsu.edu or by calling 615-898-5385.

Thanks!