Shurkin to speak on corporate media ownership, democracy

Submitted by Charles Mason
Phone: 907-474-6217
11/16/07

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Joel Shurkin will give a public lecture on the effects of corporate media ownership Tuesday, Nov. 20 at 7 p.m. at the Noel Wien Library auditorium.

Shurkin’s lecture, "Media and Democracy: Why is Thomas Jefferson Spinning in His Grave?" will focus specifically on how corporate media ownership affects democracy. The event is free and open to the public.

Shurkin is the first Charles W. Snedden Chair in Journalism to serve for a full academic year in the University of Alaska Fairbanks journalism department. Helen Snedden established the Snedden Chair in 2003 in memory of her late husband, the former publisher and owner of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Since its establishment, the chair has allowed the UAF journalism department to bring a series of nationally known journalists to Fairbanks to speak to students, local journalists and the public.

Shurkin is a journalist, science writer and historian. He and his colleagues at the Philadelphia Inquirer received the Pulitzer Prize in 1979 for their coverage of the Three Mile Island accident. He is the author of multiple books and is a science writer emeritus at Stanford University.

CONTACT: Charles Mason, UAF journalism department chairman, at 907-474-6217 or via e-mail at cmason@uaf.edu. Marmian Grimes, UAF public information officer, at 907-474-7902 or via e-mail at marmian.grimes@uaf.edu.