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SPJ joins The Media Institute in promoting First Amendment campaign

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
10/17/2000


Contacts: Kyle Elyse Niederpruem, SPJ Board President, 317/444-6385, or kylespj@starnews.com

INDIANAPOLIS — The Society of Professional Journalists joins The Media Institute in promoting a new educational and public awareness campaign aimed at celebrating the First Amendment.

The Society will serve as one of 12 Project Advisory Council volunteers for The Cornerstone Project, based at The Media Institute in Washington, D.C. SPJ will act as counsel to the three-year, $5 million nationwide project, which strives to give the American public a renewed appreciation of the importance of free speech and a free press.

“We are very gratified that SPJ is one of our Cornerstone partners,” said Richard T. Kaplar, vice president, The Media Institute. “With so much riding on the First Amendment, professional journalists are a natural ally in supporting free speech and press. We look forward to working with SPJ to help spread the Cornerstone message.”

The project’s initiatives will include communication with TV and movie critics at newspapers and magazines, talk show appearances, magazine and journal articles, opinion-editorial pieces, meetings with editorial boards, speaking engagements and online resources at www.mediainst.org

“SPJ has been a leader in the nation in creating a free and ethical press,” said Kyle Elyse Niederpruem, SPJ Board president and an assistant city editor at The Indianapolis Star. “This is a natural partnership for us. And we’ll be relying mostly on the sweat equity of our members to work with The Media Institute.”

Other organizations on the advisory council include the National Association of Broadcasters, Newspaper Association of America, Magazine Publishers of America, American Association of Advertising Agencies, American Library Association, American Society of Magazine Editors, American Society of Newspaper Editors, Association of American Publishers, Freedom of Expression Foundation, Media Coalition, Radio-Television News Directors Association, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression.

More information on the Cornerstone Project is available here or on The Media Institute’s Web site.

The Media Institute is a nonprofit research organization that advocates a strong First Amendment and excellence in journalism.


Founding Sponsors



National Association of Broadcasters
Eddie Fritts, President
Jeff Baumann, VP and General Counsel
1771 N Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20036
202-429-5454
Fax 202-775-2985
jbaumann@nab.org

Dennis Wharton
202-429-5415

Newspaper Association of America
John Sturm, President
Judith Burrell, Senior Vice President, Communications
1921 Gallows Rosd, Suite 600
Vienna, VA 22182
703-902-1600
Fax 703-917-0636
burrj@naa.org

Debra Gersh Hernandez
703-902-1737

Elise Burroughs, Executive Editor
Presstime Magazine
703-902-1678
Magazine Publishers of America
Nina Link, President
919 Third Avenue, 22nd Floor
New York, NY 10022
Fax 212-888-4217

James R. Cregan, Senior Vice President / Counsel
1211 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Suite 610
Washington, DC 20036
202-296-7277
Fax 202-296-0343
james.cregan@magazine.org

American Association of Advertising Agencies
Hal Shoup, Executive Vice President
1899 L Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20036
202-331-7345
Fax 202-857-3675
hshoup@aaaadc.org


Advisory Council



American Library Association
Judith Krug, Director
Office for Intellectual Freedom
50 East Huron Street
Chicago, IL 60611
312-280-4222
800-545-2433 x 1-4222
Fax 312-280-4227
jkrug@ala.org

American Society of Magazine Editors
Marlene Kahan
919 Third Avenue, 22nd Floor
New York, NY 10022
212-752-0055
Fax 212-906-0128
mkahan@magazine.org

American Society of Newspaper Editors
Scott Bosley, Executive Director
11690 B Sunrise Valley Drive
Reston, VA 20191
703-453-1120
Fax 703-453-1133
sbosley@asne.org

Association of American Publishers
Judith Platt, Director
Freedom To Read
50 F Street, N.W., 4th Floor
Washington, DC 20001
202-347-3375
Fax 202-347-3690
jplatt@publishers.org

Freedom of Expression Foundation
Craig R. Smith, President
171 Claremont Ave.
Long Beach, CA 90803
562-434-2284
crsmith@csulb.edu

Media Coalition
David Horowitz, Executive Director
139 Fulton Street, Suite 302
New York, NY 10038
212-587-4025
Fax 212-587-2436
horowitz@mediacoalition.org

Radio-Television News Directors Association
Barbara Cochran, President
1000 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Suite 615
Washington, DC 20036
202-659-6510
Fax 202-223-4007

Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
Lucy A. Dalglish, Executive Director
1815 North Ft. Meyer Drive
Arlington, VA 22209
703-807-2100
Fax 703-807-2109
ldalglish@rcfp.org

Society of Professional Journalists
Kyle Elyse Niederpruem, SPJ Board President
317-444-6385


Jim Gray, Executive Director
The Eugene S. Pulliam National Journalism Center
3909 N. Meridian St.
Indianapolis, IN 46208-4011
317-927-8000
Fax 317-920-4789
jgray@spj.org

Sarah A. Shrode
SPJ Communications Manager
sshrode@spj.org

The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression
Robert M. O’Neil, Founding Director
400 Peter Jefferson Place
Charlottesville, VA 22911
804-295-4784
Fax 804-296-3621
rmo@virginia.edu

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