Office of Electronic Media
On September 17, 2008, University of Illinois Springfield faculty, staff and students took time to reflect on one of the critical freedoms of the First Amendment during a panel discussion of “Freedom of the Press in 2008”. Co-sponsored by the Center for State Policy and Leadership and part of the ECCE Speakers Series, the discussion, which honored Constitution Day, was held in the lobby of the Public Affairs Center on the Springfield campus.
Panelists Bill Wheelhouse, the general manager of WUIS, the University of Illinois Springfield’s public radio station; Dana Heupel, executive director of Illinois Issues magazine; and Don Craven, attorney for the Illinois Press Association, examined how the ideas of freedom of the press and the overall idea of the media have changed. Where the media was once comprised of newspaper and broadcast reporters, over the years, it has grown to encompass television reporters and anchors, commentators, online writers, and bloggers. And while the idea of the media has changed, so have the ideas of freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Today, the press is under the attack of not only politicians, but even of law enforcement agencies and the general public. Panelists stressed however, that although these attacks have sometimes hindered the press, the largest potential threat to freedom of the press is apathy.
Filmed by the Office of Electronic Media, the “Freedom of the Press in 2008” panel discussion is available for viewing at the following link:
