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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

Journalist lectures on privacy in media

Journalist Tom Wicker, former bureau chief and columnist for the New York Times, spoke to students and faculty Monday about ethics and privacy in journalism. Wicker, who wrote the "In the Nation" column for 25 years before his retirement in 1991, addressed a crowd of about 200 in his talk, "Privacy in the Media Age."\n"The function of journalism is to give readers information that has been tested for accuracy, reliability and credibility," said journalism dean Trevor Brown. "Society needs to have confidence in its journalists."\nWicker's audience was mostly journalism students and professors. He shared his experiences as a Washington, D.C., bureau chief in the 1960s, during which he dealt with numerous stories, including former President Richard Nixon's resignation.\nHe also addressed the question of how far a reporter should continue to pursue a story, citing the 1988 downfall of Democratic presidential nominee Gary Hart. Hart was leading the polls by more than 20 points when his political career was toppled by a well-publicized sex expose, and Michael Dukakis became the Democratic nominee.\nPublic officials make a sacrifice of their private lives when they agree to take a public position, Wicker said. He added that journalists shouldn't demean themselves as public watchdogs by reporting sexual activity.\n"People have certain privacy rights, and they have certain privacy claims," he said. "Journalists should treat each person's claims as rights."\nWicker's lecture was only one part of the Roy W. Howard Public Affairs Reporting Seminar, sponsored by the School of Journalism and the Scripps Howard Foundation. Howard was a distinguished reporter for much of his life, and eventually became chairman of the board of the Scripps Howard Foundation, which bears his name.\nThe seminar was designed to honor the winners of the 2000 Roy W. Howard National Reporting Competition. In addition to being recognized, the winners, three of which were IU students, had a chance to meet with three judges to discuss their winning articles. Scholarships totaling $24,000 were awarded to the 12 winners.\nAline Mendelsohn, a senior majoring in journalism and IDS writing coach, received a first place award in the contest. Gina Czark, IDS General Assignments editor, and Christina Jewett, IDS Weekend features editor, both junior journalism majors, were runners-up in the competition. \nPam Howard, Roy W. Howard's granddaughter, was also on hand for the event.\n"The reason we have the seminar here is because my grandfather came to Indiana at the end of his life," she said. "He never finished college, but he received an honorary degree here at IU."

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