The David and Janet Dix Lecture in Media Ethics returns for its second year and will host National Public Radio's Eric Deggans. He will be delivering a talk entitled "Building Bridges, Not Walls: Decoding Media's Confusing Coverage of Race, Gender, Culture and Politics," at 7 p.m. at Franklin Hall, Room 340, on the evening of Tuesday, February 11, 2020.
Launched in 2019 and funded through the generosity of David and Janet Dix with an endowment gift of $100,000 to the School of Journalism and Mass Communication (JMC), this annual spring lecture features nationally recognized figures discussing critical issues in media ethics, furthering enhancing the school’s national reputation as a leader in the field.
The network's first full-time TV critic, Deggans came to NPR in 2013 from the Tampa Bay Times where he served as TV/Media Critic and in other roles for nearly 20 years. He is the author of Race-Baiter: How the Media Wields Dangerous Words to Divide a Nation and frequently serves as a contributor and media analyst for MSNBC and NBC News. In 2017, Eric was named one of the country’s 15 Most Influential Media Reporters by the website Mediaite and in 2009, he was cited as one of Ebony magazine’s “Power 150” – a list of influential black Americans which also included Oprah Winfrey and PBS host Gwen Ifill. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Village Voice, the Chicago Sun-Times and many other publications.
Jeff Fruit, interim director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, praised the selection of Deggans as speaker. "In our current climate surrounding race and journalism, Mr. Deggans, as co-chair of the Media Monitoring Committee for the National Association of Black Journalists, brings valuable insights into how these discussions take place and shape conversations online and in newsrooms across the country. Our students and our community can learn much from the perspective Deggans brings to the table."
David Dix is the former publisher of the Kent Record-Courier, a position he held since 1974. The newspaper was started in 1898 by his grandfather and great-grandfather. He also published weekly newspapers in the surrounding communities, served on the Board of Trustees of the Ohio Newspaper Association including two years as president and has been a committed supporter of Kent State University. Janet Dix is a counseling psychologist at Western Reserve Psychological Associates. She received her bachelor’s degree in English, her master’s degree in higher education and her doctorate in counseling psychology – all from Kent State.
The School of Journalism and Mass Communication leads important national conversations about core media ethics issues, and The Dix Media Ethics Lecture Series is one annual program among many hosted by a school well known for the quality of its curriculum and its graduates. In the field of media ethics, JMC also hosts the annual KSU Poynter Media Ethics Workshop, is the home of The Media Law Center for Ethics & Access, holds a Knight Chair in Scholastic Journalism concentrating on First Amendment and civic education and is ranked one of the top 10 programs in the United States.
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