Duke to Host Discussions About Media Coverage of Lacrosse Case (DukeLax Ping)

Duke to Host Discussions About Media Coverage of Lacrosse Case, Post-9/11 Security

Durham, NC -- Two panels composed of national and local journalists and Duke faculty will examine media coverage of the Duke lacrosse case as well as national security issues following the Sept. 11 attacks.

Both discussions, which are open to the public, will be held on the afternoon of Friday, Oct. 20, in Room 05 of the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy on Duke’s West Campus. Parking is available in the parking garage next to the Bryan Center.

Panelists for the discussion, “Why rape allegations against men’s lacrosse players became a national story on race, class and crime” include New York Times reporter and “Our Towns” columnist Peter Applebome (Duke Class of ’71); Herald-Sun editor Bob Ashley (’70); ESPN sports analyst and attorney Jay Bilas (’86, J.D. ’92); Duke law professor and chair of Duke’s lacrosse review committee James E. Coleman Jr.; Chronicle editorial page managing editor and 2005-06 editor-in-chief Seyward Darby; News & Observer managing editor John Drescher (A.M. ’88); former Newsweek senior editor Jerry Footlick, author of “Truth and Consequences: How Colleges and Universities Meet Public Crises”; and Newsweek senior writer Susannah Meadows (’95).

Frank Stasio, host for “The State of Things” on WUNC Radio, will moderate the discussion, which begins at 1:30 p.m.

The second discussion, “Reporting and national security: Balancing public interests after 9/11,” begins at 3:30 p.m. Panelists include Dow Jones Newswires defense reporter Rebecca Christie (’95); Wall Street Journal senior contributing writer and CNBC chief Washington correspondent John Harwood (’78); New York Times national security reporter Mark Mazzetti (’96); David Schanzer, visiting associate professor of public policy and director of the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security; Scott Silliman, Duke law professor and executive director of the Duke Center on Law, Ethics and National Security; Washington Post national investigative correspondent Jeffrey Smith (’76); and Susan Tifft (’73), the Eugene C. Patterson Professor of the Practice of Journalism and Public Policy Studies at Duke’s DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy.

John Dancy, visiting lecturer at the DeWitt Wallace Center and former NBC News correspondent, will moderate the second panel. The program will conclude with a reception.

The discussions were organized by the Duke Chronicle Alumni Network, Duke Magazine and the DeWitt Wallace Center .

For more information, contact: Robert Bliwise, Duke Magazine | (919) 684-2883 | robert.bliwise@daa.duke.edu

Some excerpts from the Sill , Williams, News & Observer 'editing' controversy--

Comment from: mj [Visitor] 10/07/06 at 18:27

"You at the N & O had the opportunity to investigate everything about this case, just as the bloggers have. They aren't being paid to be journalists and aren't up for any Pulitzers, but they are doing an amazing job of exposing the real story here--a foul-mouthed, win-at-all-costs DA up for a tough re-election using a story that the N & O had already made into a racial, athlete swaggering pile of nonsense. The bloggers are absolutely beating you at the job you were supposed to do. Are any of you on Nifong's payroll?"

Comment from: momtothree [Visitor] , 10/07/06 at 19:01

"This wasn't just another accusation, it was a case up-ender, a wrench in the works, a skunk at the picnic that casts all the individuals involved in a somewhat different light. If the AV's accusation that Kim stole $2,000 from her that night were true, then the questions come fast and furious. Why did the AV have an additional $1,600 on her? Why was she carrying this money around? Was it money she had just made? What sort of things would one be doing to earn $1,600 in an afternoon and evening. With that kind of earning power, perhaps the AV wasn't even poor. Not poor, perhaps she wasn't even forced to do these degrading performances to feed her kids. Was the robbery of $2,000 the reason Kim was trying to dump the AV at the Krogers and get the heck out of there, instead of making some effort to take her home? Was the 911 call a phoney attempt to cover up this robbery and cast the lacrosse players in a bad light. But most of all, if Kim could so casually rob a 'sister' within 90 minutes of meeting her, the racial tableau of this case starts to melt down like a bunch of cheap wax works."

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These local reporters leave a lot to be desired. Their interview of the AV's driver Taylor is suspect also. Every word printed in this whole scandal is suspect. Newspapers distorting lawyer's dissemination of Nifong's fictional boxcar of discovery of rigged imcompetent Durham police investigation of lying criminal felons. No investigation of the criminal underground sex, drug network in a county whose DA claims 50,000 NEW defendants each year. Why that is nearly half the adult population. No wonder the Durham criminal justice system is so felon friendly. The odds are you or your relatives have done business downtown at the courthouse, police department or jail, at one time or another. The police chief's daughter charged with attempted murder by running someone over? Someone needs to check out the recent rape, robbery at gunpoint, of the 'exotic dancer' over on Sandy Creek Drive this week. Porn industry connections? Developing.....

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