CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Two prominent journalists and an Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker will discuss current news issues and present their work during appearances over the next month at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Each of the events, sponsored by the university’s College of Communications, with support from other campus units, is free and open to the public.
On March 31, Ken Paulson, editor of USA Today, will speak on “The Land of the Free and the Home of the Easily Offended: The State of Free Expression in America.” His talk will begin at 4 p.m. on the third floor of the Levis Faculty Center, 919 W. Illinois St., Urbana.
Paulson was named to his current position in April 2004. Previously, he was executive director of the Freedom Forum’s First Amendment Center, where he drew on his background as both a journalist and lawyer to write columns and lead other efforts to promote greater understanding of the First Amendment. He will be on campus to receive a Distinguished Alumni Award from the College of Law, from which he graduated in 1978.
On April 8, David Horovitz, editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post, will speak on “Journalism in the Holy Land: Reporting War and Peace.” His talk will begin at 2 p.m. in Room 314 of the Illini Union, 1401 W. Green St., Urbana.
Horovitz took his position with the Post in October of last year, after 14 years at The Jerusalem Report news magazine, which he edited and published. He also has written for newspapers in the United States and worldwide, and is author of the books “Still Life With Bombers: Israel in the Age of Terrorism” and “A Little Too Close to God: The Thrills and Panic of a Life in Israel.”
On April 11, filmmaker Mark Harris, three-time winner of Academy Awards for documentary productions, will present a screening of his 2001 Oscar winner “Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport.” The screening will begin at 7 p.m. in the auditorium (Room 1025) of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, 405 N. Mathews Ave., Urbana. A panel discussion will take place afterward.
The film tells stories of those involved in the “Kindertransport” of 1938 and 1939, in which about 10,000 children, most of them Jews, were sent by their parents from Nazi-occupied countries to the safety of foster families in England.
Harris, a professor in the School of Cinema-Television at the University of Southern California, began his career as a journalist with the City News Bureau in Chicago. In 2003, Harris’ HBO documentary, “Unchained Memories: Readings From the Slave Narratives,” received two Emmy nominations. In addition to his film work, he has written five children’s novels and two books of non-fiction.
