First Amendment expert and educator Ken Paulson will be the guest speaker at the third annual Celebrating a Free Press and Open Government Banquet, titled this year “Journalism’s Core…The Contemporary First Amendment.”
Paulson is president of the Newseum Institute’s First Amendment Center, former editor of USA Today, and former leader of the Freedom Forum and Newseum. He currently is dean of the College of Media and Entertainment at Middle Tennessee State University.
The banquet will be at the Downtown Des Moines Marriott at 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 8, 2015. Hosted by The Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism-IowaWatch with the Iowa Freedom of Information Council and Iowa Newspaper Foundation, the banquet will cap a full day in the state capital of bringing attention to the need of an unrestricted news media and open government in our democracy.
REGISTER FOR THE BANQUET
Other events will include a public forum hosted by the Des Moines Register and Iowa Newspaper Association to explore open records and civil rights issues raised by police use of body cameras, a chance for the public to meet with the Iowa Public Information Board Executive Director Charles Smithson and members of that board, and the Iowa Freedom of Information Council’s annual meeting.
The Iowa Freedom of Information Council will present its annual Harrison “Skip” Weber Friend of the First Amendment award at the banquet. IowaWatch will present its Stephen Berry and Randy Brubaker Free Press Champion awards to a working journalist or journalism educator and to an Iowan who is not involved with journalism but who promotes the role of an unrestricted news media and open government.
Admission to all events except for the banquet is free. Banquet tickets are $55 per person. To register, go to here.
EVENTS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
- 1:00-3:00 p.m. – Des Moines Register/Iowa Newspaper Association forum on the use of police body cameras, Des Moines Register Community Room, 400 Locust St., Des Moines, IA 50309.
- 3:30-4:30 p.m. – Meet and greet with Iowa Public Information Board Executive Director Charles Smithson and members of the board, Salons F and G, Des Moines Downtown Marriott, 700 Grand Ave., Des Moines, IA 50309.
- 4:30-5:30 p.m. – Iowa Freedom of Information Council annual meeting, Salons F and G, Downtown Des Moines Marriott.
- 5:30-8:30 p.m. – IowaWatch reception and “Journalism’s Core…The Contemporary First Amendment,” the third annual Celebrating a Free Press and Open Government Banquet with speaker Ken Paulson, Downtown Des Moines Marriott.
BANQUET SPONSORS
The Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism-IowaWatch banquet is co-hosted by the Iowa Freedom of Information Council and Iowa Newspaper Association with additional support from the following sponsors: The Associated Press; the Iowa Broadcasters Association; the Faegre Baker Daniels law firm of Des Moines; The Des Moines Register; and the University of Iowa School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
ABOUT IOWAWATCH.ORG
The Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism is an independent, nonprofit and nonpartisan news service that collaborates with Iowa media partners to produce investigative and explanatory journalism, and trains college students to do this kind of work at a professional and ethical level. It was founded in 2010.
