[336]BET JOURNALIST JEFF JOHNSON TO SPEAK “THETRUTH”AT MTSU

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Feb. 27, 2009EDITORIAL CONTACT: Dr. Sekou Franklin, 615-904-8232

BET JOURNALIST JEFF JOHNSON TO SPEAK “THETRUTH”AT MTSU Progressive Communicator, Activist Interviewed Leaders of Liberia and Sudan

(MURFREESBORO) – Jeff Johnson, host and producer for Black Entertainment Television’s “The Truth with Jeff Johnson,” will speak on “The Quest for Black Citizenship” at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 3, at Tucker Theatre in MTSU’s Boutwell Dramatic Arts Building. This event is free and open to the public. Johnson landed an exclusive post-inauguration interview with Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa’s first elected female head of state, in 2006. He is one of only two news correspondents to be granted an interview with Sudan President Omar Al-Bashir, who has not granted interviews with American media outlets for 13 years. The National Association of Black Journalists bestowed its Salute to Excellence Award on Johnson in 2008 for his BET series “Life & Death in Darfur: Jeff Johnson Reports.”
Described by Source magazine as one of hip-hop’s political leaders, Johnson is former Vice President of the Hip-Hop Action Network and former National Director of the NAACP Youth and College Division. He is senior adviser for Media and Youth Outreach for People for the American Way. In addition to his television show, Johnson is a regular commentator on Tom Joyner’s syndicated radio program.
This event is sponsored by the MTSU Black History Month Committee, the Distinguished Lecture Fund, the African-American Student Association, the National Pan-Hellenic Council, Inc., and Women in Action. For more information, contact Dr. Sekou Franklin, chairman of the MTSU Black History Month Committee, at 615-904-8232 or franklin@mtsu.edu.

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ATTENTION, MEDIA: For a jpeg photo of Jeff Johnson, contact Gina Logue in the MTSU Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-5081 or gklogue@mtsu.edu.