The University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Journalism and Mass Communications is hosting a lecture by Hank Klibanoff as part of the Hearst Speaker Series on Diversity and Modern Media at 7 p.m. on March 10 in Andersen Hall, Room 15.
Hank Klibanoff grew up in Alabama witnessing the evolution of race relations there. Those experiences, along with his 35 years as a newspaper reporter and editor, not to mention his years as a newspaper delivery boy, were key influences as he co-wrote “The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle and the Awakening of a Nation.” The book won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for history.
“The Hearst Speaker Series on Diversity and Modern Media is designed to explore issues relating to all forms of diversity in contemporary media,” Dean Maria Marron of the College of Journalism and Mass Communications said. “I look forward to the conversation Hank Klibanoff’s perspective will bring this series, and this campus.”
Klibanoff is the former managing editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and currently the managing editor of the Cold Case Truth and Justice Project, which uses investigative reporting to dig out the truth behind unsolved racial murders that took place during the Civil Rights era in the south.
“The Race Beat,” written by Klibanoff and Gene Roberts, former managing editor of The New York Times, explores news coverage of the Civil Rights Movement in the south. The book has won several awards including the Goldsmith Book Prize and was a finalist for the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award and PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award. It also received the Book of the Year Award from the American Journalism Historians Association and the Frank Luther Mott Book Research Award given by the National Honor Society in Journalism and Mass Communication.
A diverse newsroom better reflects the population, which enables fairer, more accurate reporting. To have success in covering diverse issues, a clear strategy must be credited to preserve fairness and accuracy. The Hearst Series on Diversity and Modern Media is a platform to further explore these issues.
More information is available on the Hearst Series website, go to http://journalism.unl.edu/diversity-series.
The inaugural season of The Hearst Series will enhance media creators and consumers’ awareness of issues in a multifaceted diverse society and encourage dialogue to improve access to and fairness in the media. The series is provided by an endowment from the Hearst Foundation.
