EUGENE,
Ore. -- (March 27, 2009) -- The number of journalists on newsroom payrolls is
shrinking. Yet the demand for top-quality news coverage of urban communities
may be higher than ever. How should a major metropolitan newspaper choose what
to cover and what to abandon? Can it fulfill its community responsibilities as
it contends with crushing financial pressures?
Those
and other questions will be explored at 4 p.m. on Thursday, April 2, when
Martin Baron, editor of The Boston Globe, delivers the UO School of Journalism
and Communication's annual Ruhl Lecture in the EMU Ballroom, 1222 E. 13th Ave.
The lecture is free and open to the public.
Baron
began his career at the Miami Herald in 1976 and later moved to the Los Angeles
Times and The New York Times before he returned to the Herald as executive
editor. In 2001, he moved to Boston to serve as the Globe's editor.
Baron
brings to campus decades of experience in leadership roles at several of the
nation's great newspapers and "the view from ground zero," said John Russial,
SOJC professor. "As editor of the Globe, he has had to pilot a major
metropolitan newspaper through the most turbulent economic waters newspapers
have faced in the modern era."
The
SOJC's annual Ruhl Lecture is named for Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
Robert W. Ruhl, a deeply respected Oregon newspaperman. Ruhl, who died in 1967,
was editor and publisher of the Medford Mail Tribune. He performed his duties
with a high sense of responsibility to the public and with uncompromising
ethics.
The
Robert and Mabel Ruhl Endowment was created in 1973 and 1974 by Mabel W. Ruhl,
Robert's widow. Mabel Ruhl specified that the income from the endowment be used
to foster mutually beneficial relationships between the media and the SOJC. The
concept of an annual Ruhl Symposium grew out of this directive. The symposium
brings a well-known American journalist to campus to deliver a public lecture
on an issue of significance for contemporary journalism.
Baron
is available for phone interviews before traveling to Eugene. To schedule an
interview, call Heidi Hiaasen at 541-346-3606.
Links: UO School of Journalism and Communication: http://jcomm.uoregon.edu/