“Trusting the media in the age of Trump”
Media lawyer and author Bruce Sanford will give the eighteenth annual Rosine Smith Sammons Lecture in Media Ethics at SMU at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, October 17.
The lecture, titled “Trusting the Media in the Age of Trump,” will be held in Caruth Auditorium in the Owen Arts Center, 6101 Bishop Blvd. on the SMU campus (Dallas 75205). The event is free and tickets are not required. Parking information is available . The Sammons Lecture Series is presented by the Division of Journalism at SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts.
Mentioned in The National Law Journal’s list of the 100 most influential lawyers in America (1991), and described by American Journalism Review as one of the most accomplished press lawyers in the nation, Bruce Sanford maintains a national practice as a partner in the law firm BakerHostetler, Washington, D.C. His work is focused on representing high-profile clients in cutting-edge and complex matters, frequently with high-stakes public affairs considerations.
During a distinguished career spanning four decades, Sanford has been at the forefront of the contours of modern American media law and has represented virtually every major media outlet and a wide variety of multinational companies, financial institutions and investors. Noted for his ability to mobilize public support for his clients’ interests, he has represented most leading national news media and book publishers, including E.W. Scripps, Hearst Corporation, ABC, NBC, Fox Television, National Geographic, Breitbart News, Grupo Ferre Rangel and Random House.
He represented President Clinton in the negotiation of a book contract, and first lady Barbara Bush and author John Grisham in libel and copyright cases, respectively. He has authored a leading treatise on libel and privacy law, Libel and Privacy (Wolters Kluwer), as well as the best-selling trade book Don’t Shoot the Messenger: How Our Growing Hatred of the Media Threatens Free Speech for All of Us. He also serves as general counsel to the Society of Professional Journalists, the largest and oldest organization of journalists in the U.S. on Capitol Hill and in Washington.
The Rosine Smith Sammons Lecture Series in Media Ethics is funded by a generous endowment from the Rosine Foundation Fund of the Communities Foundation of Texas, at the recommendation of Mary Anne Sammons Cree of Dallas. The series is named in honor of her mother, Rosine Smith Sammons, who graduated from SMU in the 1920s with a degree in journalism. The endowment will provide permanent resources for the Meadows School of the Arts to present annual lectures focusing on media ethics.
The Division of Journalism, under The Belo Foundation Distinguished Chair Tony Pederson, offers concentrations in all media – broadcast, print and internet – through its convergence journalism program. With the help of a gift from The Belo Foundation, the Division has become one of the few journalism schools in the country to provide hands-on experience through a new digital newsroom, television studio and website.
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