UIS Speaker Series presents "A Call to Action: Local Media's Role in Shaping Public Policy"

WHAT: The University of Illinois Springfield Engaged Citizenship Common Experience (ECCE) Speaker Series presents “A Call to Action: Local Media's Role in Shaping Public Policy” featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning UIS alumnus Mitch Pugh, executive editor of The Post and Courier newspaper of Charleston, S.C. The event is free and open to the public.

WHEN: Thursday, March 24, 2016 at 4:00 p.m.

WHERE: UIS Brookens Auditorium, located on the lower level of Brookens Library

DETAILS: Engaged local news media can play an important role in driving public debate and, ultimately, public policy. But as newsrooms across America shrink, the expensive and time-consuming art of investigative, watchdog and public service journalism has clearly diminished. The result has been fewer eyes watching the halls of power and government officials who are increasingly hostile to the public's responsibility, through the press, to hold them accountable. Yet, there is hope as privately held, locally owned news organizations have begun reversing the trend and investing in investigative journalism. Drawing upon examples from The Post and Courier's Pulitzer Prize-winning series about domestic violence, "Till Death Do Us Part," Pugh will argue about the importance of local media in social change.

Pugh is the winner of the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. In his time as editor in Charleston, S.C., the paper has won several prestigious journalism awards including the George Polk Award, Silver Gavel Award, the 2015 John Jay College/Harry Frank Guggenheim Award and the American Society of News Editors' Local Accountability Award. A native of Riverton, Illinois, he has been the editor of newspapers in Colorado, Iowa, and Missouri.

This event is sponsored by the UIS Chancellor's Office and the Department of English and Modern Languages. It is co-sponsored by the UIS Departments of Communication, Women and Gender Studies and the Women's Center.

For a list of other upcoming ECCE Speaker Series events and more information, visit www.uis.edu/speakerseries/.