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The UNC Program for Public Discourse and Duke University’s Polis: Center for Politics will host a hybrid Abbey Speaker Series event that features UNC Hussman alumnus and Foundation Board member John Hood '88.

The event will bring together journalists from local and national publications for “Journalism and Democracy,” a panel discussion about objectivity, the decline of local news and the nationalization of media, and journalism’s role in promoting and maintaining democratic values.

The discussion features the following contributors.

Panelists:

·      McKay Coppins, a staff writer at The Atlantic who recently published an exposé detailing the purchase and closure of local newspapers by financial firms and its impact on the communities they serve.

·      John Hood ‘88, president of the John William Pope Foundation and a syndicated columnist covering politics and public policy in North Carolina.

·      Nafari Vanaski, a freelance writer who worked in newspapers for 17 years and exited the industry due to concerns about how the idea of journalistic objectivity perpetuates racism.

Moderator:

·      Molly Worthen, a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times and an associate professor of history at UNC.

The discussion takes place in the Nelson Mandela Auditorium of the FedEx Global Education Center and will be livestreamed on Zoom.

Registration for both in-person and online attendance is available here.

A recording will be made available on PPD’s YouTube channel and shared with registrants 2-3 days after the event.