SU’s Newhouse School to host Legal Reporting Fellowship winners for an inside look at justice system investigations

Monday, March 2, 2009, By News Staff

SU’s Newhouse School to host Legal Reporting Fellowship winners for an inside look at justice system investigationsMarch 02, 2009Wendy S. Loughlinwsloughl@syr.edu

Four independent journalists whose work is supported by grants from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications will appear together on campus to share details of their investigative reports on the American justice system.

“Works In Progress: An inside look at four journalists’ government-watchdog projects” will be held on Wednesday, March 18, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in the I3 Center, Room 432 in Newhouse 3. The event is free and open to the public. Parking is available in SU pay lots.

The four journalists are the winners of the 2008-09 Carnegie/Newhouse School Legal Reporting Fellowships. The fellowships program, part of the Carnegie Legal Reporting Program in the Newhouse School, awards grants and paid student research assistance to freelance journalists whose work examines the courts or legal system.

Appearing to discuss their projects and to debate the role of freelance writers and producers in government-watchdog journalism are:

  • Jim Edwards of Jersey City, N.J. (judicial conflicts of interest in New York courts);
  • Chandra R. Thomas of Atlanta (incarceration of the untreated mentally ill);
  • Anita Wadhwani of Nashville (domestic violence in child custody disputes); and
  • Sharon Weinberger of Washington, D.C. (fraud in military contracting).

“The chief purpose of the reporting fellowships, and the March 18 event, is to educate students about the work of journalists who shine a light on the legal system,” says Mark Obbie, Newhouse associate professor of magazine journalism and director of the Carnegie Legal Reporting Program. “This event brings working journalists to the classroom and lecture hall to explain what it takes to perform this kind of public-service journalism. It is for aspiring journalists and for anyone else who cares about keeping the public informed of its justice system.”

The event is sponsored by the Carnegie Legal Reporting Program with support from the Campbell Public Affairs Institute in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. For more information, contact Obbie at (315) 443-2848 or mjobbie@syr.edu.