[PAST EVENT] Press Freedom Under Attack: 21st Century Threats to Journalists--and Democracy

November 4, 2022
9am - 1pm
Location
Zoom
Access & Features
  • Open to the public
  • Registration/RSVP
poster from the HBO documentary Endangered

The Human Security Law Center at William & Mary Law School and the Reves Center for International Studies, in cooperation with the Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO, present a virtual symposium November 4, 2022 from 9am-1pm ET. "Press Freedom Under Attack: 21st Century Threats to Journalists--and Democracy," will be held via Zoom and is free and open to the public. The Zoom link will be shared upon registration. REGISTER HERE


Agenda

9:00-9:10 a.m.: Introductory Remarks

  • Professor Nancy Amoury Combs, the Ernest W. Goodrich Professor of Law and Director of the Human Security Law Center at William & Mary Law School. 
  • Dr. Teresa Longo, Associate Provost for International Affairs and Executive Director of the Reves Center for International Studies.

9:15-10:15 a.m.: Keynote Address

  • Tikhon Dzyadko: Dzyadko is a Russian journalist, television presenter, and Editor-in-Chief of Dozhd TV (also known as TV Rain), which was one of the few independent television news stations in Russia. Through his role at Dozhd TV, Dzyadko has interviewed notable public figures, including opposition leader Alexei Navalny. In March 2022, Dzyadko made headlines when he suspended Dozhd TV operations after Russia’s media regulator blocked its website for spreading “deliberately false information about the actions of Russian military personnel.” The media regulator’s response was prompted by Dohzd TV’s critical commentary on Russia’s war in Ukraine
  • Moderator: Nancy Amoury Combs,  Ernest W. Goodrich Professor of Law and Director of the Human Security Law Center at William & Mary Law School. 

10:20-11:40 a.m.: Endangered: Threats Against Journalists in the United States and Abroad 

Panelists: 

  •  Rachel Grady: Rachel Grady is an award-winning American documentary filmmaker, known for her films Jesus Camp (2006), One of Us (2017), and Love Fraud (2020). Grady’s most recent project, Endangered (2022), details the threats faced by journalists in the United States and around the world.
  • Carl-Philippe Juste: Under the threat of persecution, Haitian-born Carl-Philippe Juste and his politically active family were forced to flee their homeland in 1965, eventually settling in Miami’s Haitian community. Since 1991, he has worked as an award-winning photojournalist for the Miami Herald. Juste has covered national and international stories for the Herald, including assignments in Haiti, Cuba, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq. As part of his ongoing independent work, in 1998, Juste co-founded Iris Photo Collective. In 2016, Juste won a prestigious Knight Arts Challenge grant to complete Havana, Haiti: Two Cultures, One Community, a book and exhibit of photographs and essays about Cubans’ and Haitians’ lives and shared humanity. In 2019, Juste opened IPC ArtSpace in 2019 to further engage the public with the arts, and he won the Oolite Arts’ “The Ellies” award that same year and, again, in 2021.
  • Joel Simon: Joel Simon is a journalist and regular columnist for Columbia Journalism Review. Simon served as executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) (2006–2021), and during his tenure, CPJ was awarded the Thomas J. Dodd Prize in International Justice and Human Rights and the 2018 Chatham House Prize. He has authored two books: The New Censorship: Inside the Global Battle for Media Freedom (2014) and We Want to Negotiate: The Secret World of Kidnapping, Hostages, and Ransom (2018).
  • Moderator: Rachel Sleiman. Sleiman is a third-year William & Mary Law School student with an interest in human rights, free speech, and press freedom issues. Rachel serves as Editor-in-Chief of The Comparative Jurist, W&M’s international law blog, and is a member of the Bill of Rights Journal and Moot Court team. Rachel graduated with a bachelor’s degree in International Studies & Anthropology from Case Western Reserve University in 2015 and served as a paralegal for the Department of Justice’s Fraud Section for four years before pursuing her law degree.

11:45 a.m.-1:00 p.m.: Does Media Intimidation Look the Same Everywhere? Stories from Different Parts of the World

Panelists: 

  • Apar Gupta: Apar Gupta is a lawyer, activist, and writer on democracy and technology from India. Gupta began his career as a commercial litigator in India, and in 2014, he was recognized in Forbes India’s 30 Under 30 list for his work. He has worked on notable civil liberties and constitutional cases on digital and technology matters in India. In 2015, Gupta co-founded the SaveTheInternet.in and SaveOurPrivacy.in campaigns on net neutrality and data protection and surveillance reforms, which led to the founding of the Internet Freedom Foundation, where Gupta now serves as Executive Director. In addition, since 2019, Gupta has served as an Ashoka fellow. Gupta authored Commentary on Information Technology Act (2011) and writes regularly on digital and democratic rights. In 2022, Gupta was named as one of ROW 100’s Global Tech Changemakers.
  • Martin Plaut: Martin Plaut is a South-African journalist and academic specializing in African conflict. Plaut worked as a BBC News journalist from 1984 to 2012 and currently serves as a senior research fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies of the University of London.
  • Natalie Southwick: Natalie Southwick is the Latin America and the Caribbean program coordinator at the Committee to Project Journalists (CPJ) . Prior to joining CPJ as its Americas research associate in 2017, she was based in Bogotá, Colombia, where she was a member of Witness for Peace’s international accompaniment team, a reporting specialist with ACDI/VOCA’s Afro-Colombian and Indigenous program, and the editor of a website focused on Latin American news. Her work has appeared in the Boston Globe, the Chicago Reporter, InSight Crime, and RioOnWatch, among other publications. She has a master’s degree in international human rights from the University of Denver’s Korbel School of International Studies and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
  • Moderator: Christopher Tyree. Tyree is a Virginia native and the senior director and co-founder of the Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism. For more than 30 years, his cameras and pen have carried him to report on stories on nearly every continent. His award-winning projects have helped shape policy and spur awareness of important issues. His work has been published in hundreds of the world’s leading periodicals and broadcast networks including the BBC, New York Times, Washington Post, NPR and Deutsche Welle. He earned a graduate degree in visual communication from Ohio University and BS in journalism from James Madison University.

Co-Sponsors

REGISTER HERE

Contact

[[kjhoving,Kate Hoving, Reves Center]]