HU TO HOST FORUM ON NEW YORK TIMES JOURNALISM SCANDAL

Hampton, VA - Hampton University’s Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications will host a journalism ethics forum on Thursday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. in the Scripps Howard auditorium. Six prominent newspaper and television journalists will discuss challenges to newsroom ethics and diversity in the wake of the New York Times Jayson Blair scandal. The forum is free and open to the public.

The six journalists, including two from the Times will visit Scripps Howard classes throughout the day on Thursday and consult with faculty during a working luncheon seminar. The Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation of Oklahoma City are sponsoring the event.

Christopher Campbell, director of the Scripps Howard School, said, "The Jayson Blair episode at the Times was just one of many factors that made us want to place renewed emphasis on the credibility crisis in American journalism." Blair, an African-American reporter who was 27-years-old at the time, resigned from the Times in May after the paper discovered extensive fabrications in his work. His departure prompted widespread debate on whether the news organization’s commitment to diversity somehow abridged its ethical standards. The legendary paper’s two top editors subsequently also resigned.

Funding from the Ethics and Excellence Foundation has also allowed Scripps Howard to invite 12 journalism educators from other historically black schools to attend the event on fellowships of $1,000 apiece. Carolyn Phillips, visiting professor in the Scripps Howard School and a former managing editor at the Wall Street Journal, authored the grant and is coordinating the event.

"We hope with this initiative to dispel any lingering question about diversity as a hindrance to ethics and to show it, in fact, as a critical component of the best journalistic practices," Phillips said.

The six news professionals who will conduct the day ’s discussions are:

• Andy Barth, a news reporter at Baltimore’s ABC2-TV. Barth is also on the advisory committee of the Ethics and Excellence Foundation.
  
• Joseph Davidson, a Washington, D.C.-based writer, consultant and educator who was one of the first Poynter Institute Ethics fellows. A former Wall Street Journal reporter, he often offers commentary on NPR, PBS and BET.
  
• Jonathan Glater, a staff reporter at the New York Times. He was one of the writers who produced the paper’s May report about Blair. He has also served on the Times committee established to examine the paper ’s procedures.
  
• Kathleen McElroy, an associate managing editor at the Times. She is in charge of the Sunday and Monday papers and has recruited and trained minority journalists for the paper and the industry.
  
• Andrea Parquet-Taylor is news director of Baltimore’s ABC2. She has also been news director at a station in Raleigh, N.C., and spent 15 years at WXYZ-TV in Detroit, where she was managing editor when she left.
  
• DeWayne Wickham is a columnist for USA Today and a regular panelist on BET’s "Lead Story." He is also a Poynter Institute Ethics Fellow and currently teaching journalism ethics at Delaware State University.

For more information on the forum, call the Scripps Howard School of Journalism at 757-727-5405.