Club members invited to national conference on restoring trust in journalism

Steve Herman, a former member of the National Press Club Board of Governors, extends an invitation to all Club members to attend an upcoming national conference at the University of Mississippi that will address restoring trust in American journalism.

“How the News Media Can Regain Public Trust” will be hosted by the Jordan Center for Journalism Advocacy and Innovation at the University of Mississippi School of Journalism and New Media in Oxford, Mississippi. Herman is executive director of the Jordan Center and an assistant professor at the journalism school. He is  a former White House bureau chief for Voice of America.

Registration for the April 17 event, which will be free for journalists, academics, civic leaders and students, is expected to be available online in early March. 

The speakers scheduled for the conference include: Brian Stelter, CNN’s chief media analyst; Rufus Friday, executive director of the Center for Integrity in News Reporting and the former publisher of the Lexington Herald-Leader; Graeme Joffee, investigative sports journalist; Professor Kathy Kiely of the Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri; Ellen McCarthy, who is the founder/CEO of the Trust in Media Cooperative and a former U.S. assistant secretary of state for intelligence and research; André Natta, executive director of the Alabama Initiative for Independent Journalism; and Vivian Walker, co-president of the Public Diplomacy Council of America, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and former executive director of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy.

“Our discussions will focus on solutions to the credibility crisis facing journalism at a time when false information is flourishing, accountability is withering and reporters find themselves under attack from political leaders, including the president of the United States and others across the ideological spectrum,” Herman said.