Marketing and Communications

First Amendment Forum Contemplates Communities Without Newspapers (2/10/09)

Who needs newspapers? This provocative question will be explored at the annual Thomas W. Pyle First Amendment Forum at Southern Oregon University (SOU), Monday, March 2 at 7 pm in the Rogue River Room of the Stevenson Union.

The keynote speaker is Robert H. Giles, curator of the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University. Since 1938, the Nieman Foundation has funded sabbatical fellowship programs at Harvard for experienced journalists. Giles has served as curator since 2000 after a career of nearly 40 years as a newspaper reporter and editor.

Previously Giles was editor and publisher of The Detroit News and served as executive editor and then editor at the Democrat & Chronicle and the Times-Union, in Rochester, NY. His newspaper career began in 1958 at the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal.

Joining Giles in a discussion of the impact of newspapers on our lives will be a panel of community leaders. The Thomas W. Pyle First Amendment Forum is produced by the SOU Department of Communication with a grant from the Ashland Daily Tidings.