Sunshine Week 2018: Dispelling the gathering clouds

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Sunshine Week celebrates the public’s right to know, but this year it is being marked as forces of darkness continue to gather across the globe. From Latin America to Russia, from the Middle East to the Midwest of the United States, government officials are actively challenging the rights of the media to cover what they do. Why is this disturbing trend emerging in so many places simultaneously? What can we do to combat it? The National Press Club’s nonprofit Journalism Institute presented an evening discussion to examine this important topic. Panelists:
  • Nazanin Ashkan, senior program officer, IREX SAFE Initiative
  • Jon Sawyer, executive director, Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting
  • Jo Mannies, political reporter, St. Louis Public Radio
  • Summer Lopez, senior director for free expression programs, PEN America
  • John Donnelly, national security reporter, CQ Roll Call, chairman of the National Press Club Press Freedom committee
Miranda Spivack, professor of journalism at DePauw University in Indiana, moderated.