Please visit the Cole Campbell Dialogues Site, (http://campbelldialogues.info) and check for updates about the event series, “Making Journalism Matter.”
Journalist and educator Jay T. Harris celebrated the life of the late Dean of Journalism, Cole C. Campbell, and called for the newspaper industry to renew its concern with preserving the civic foundation our Republic.
Speaking at a September 19, 2007, Constitution Day address at the University of Nevada, Reno, Harris, former publisher of The San Jose Mercury News, emphasized “the moral right of the people to be well-served by the press” and called for a “journalism that met the needs of the sovereigns of our nation.”
Harris, who holds the Wallis Annenberg Chair in Journalism and Democracy at the University of Southern California, highlighted the fact that the US Constitution created a system of rights and responsibilities, and emphasized that the right of freedom of expression guaranteed to The Press comes with corresponding duties to all of the citizens of the republic.
Recalling the words of Robert Hutchins, the former president of the University of Chicago, Harris reminded the audience that, “…since the citizen’s political duty is at stake, the right to have an adequate service of news becomes a public responsibility as well. “
Harris, the Inaugural Cole C. Campbell Dialogue on Democracy speaker, observed that Campbell, the late Dean of the Reynolds School of Journalism, “was on a quest, as many journalists and citizens are on a quest, to transform the Press of today into the people’s tool for self-government and the protection of American liberty.”
He praised Campbell as true friend of the people, the press and American democracy, and noted that while he and other newspaper editors such as Campbell often disagreed on the means, “we all agreed on the end,” Harris said.
(Photo credit: Patrick Marshall, The Nevada Sagebrush)
(Requires Adobe Acrobat).
Rosemary McCarthy interviews Jay Harris for the inaugural
Cole C. Campbell Dialogue on Democracy event.
Listen to the interview with Jay Harris.
(10 minutes, requires Flash)
Now, Join the Discussion:
Summing up, Harris recalled that Dean Campbell said that “We must enlarge our conception of journalism beyond merely printing news to help make people make sense of their lives of their times. To do that, we must hone our minds and our methods in order to probe deeper.”
At the end of his address, “Rights and Responsibilities: The People, the Press and the Constitution,” Harris posed several questions. To respond, click “comment,” below
(1) How are the emerging communications technologies changing the traditional civic role of journalism?
(2) Harris also said that The Press can help mold the future of the republic, and emphasized that the press is the educator of the public. So, to what extent is the teaching of values appropriate in Journalism School? How well are citizens and journalists fulfilling their mutual civic responsibilities?
(3) In Harris’ view, the demands of the American system of capitalism and the traditional role of The Press as a public trust in a republic are in conflict. So, in a system of government that depends on journalism, how should requirements of the market and the needs of citizens be reconciled?
Please join our emerging Dialogue on Journalism and Democracy.
Just click on “comment”, below, to share your thoughts in this online discussion.
What: The 2007 Dialogue speaker will be Jay T. Harris, a professor at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California where he holds the Wallis Annenberg Chair in Journalism and Communications. He will speak on the topic of, “Rights and responsibilities: The People, The Press and the Constitution”
When: Tuesday, September 18, 2007 at 7:00 PM
Where: ASUN Auditorium, Jot Travis Student Union, University of Nevada, Reno.
More info: (775) 784-6531
Parking is available in the Brian J. Whalen Complex south of Lawlor Events Center on Virginia St.
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Learn more about Cole Campbell and the Dialogues.
Make a donation to the Cole C. Campbell Memorial Fund.
You may contact us at the Reynolds School of Journalism
Ms. Kristin Ghiggeri Burgarello
Development Director
kghiggeri@unr.edu
Tel: (775) 784-4471
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The Cole C. Campbell Dialogue On Democracy is part of Constitution Day 2007 at the University of Nevada, Reno. For more information and latest schedule of Constitution Day events, visit the Constitution Day website:
or call (775) 784-4719.
To honor and further Cole's ideas, we have established the Cole C. Campbell Dialogue on Democracy endowment. These conversations will be held throughout the year in various places and media across the country. Please check back often to learn about upcoming events and contribute your own thoughts and support to the dialogues
You can also visit the UNR Foundation (http://giving.unr.edu) and click the links to give online. Your support is greatly appreciated. To contact us, use the "Contact Us" tab, above.
Please also visit the Cole Campbell Dialogues Site
(http://campbelldialogues.info)
.