“Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.”  – Thomas Jefferson

Two hundred fifty years ago this summer, a group of delegates in Philadelphia signed a document that risked everything on a single conviction: that ordinary people, given truthful information about those in power, could govern themselves. But that promise is harder to keep every year. The Information Age has transformed into information overload; it’s more difficult than ever to know what to trust, and in cities and towns across America, there are far fewer independent reporters demanding government transparency and holding our officials to account.

Join Christopher Baxter, 2016 Knight-Wallace Fellow and founder of the Pennsylvania nonprofit newsroom Spotlight PA, for a discussion on how local news lost its way, why the future of our free society and the future of a free press are inextricably linked — as the founders understood in 1776 — and what journalists and the public can do to ensure the press can fulfill its constitutional role in service to “We the People.”

This is an in-person event and will not be live-streamed. However, a recording of the lecture will be available on our website following the event.

About the Graham Hovey Lecture
The annual Graham Hovey Lecture recognizes a Knight-Wallace journalist whose career exemplifies the benefits of a fellowship at the University of Michigan and whose ensuing work is at the forefront of our national conversations. The event is named for the late Graham Hovey, director of the fellowship program from 1980 to 1986 and a distinguished journalist for The New York Times.