2008 Silha Lecture: "Raise Your Hand if You're a Journalist: Does Responsible Reporting Need a Legal Defense?"

With Siobhain Butterworth, Readers' Editor for the (London) Guardian

Who is a journalist? What is responsible journalism? Where do media law and ethics intersect? Is self-regulation effective – or even possible—in the digital age?

Siobhain Butterworth, readers' editor (internal ombudsman) for the Guardian newspaper in London, will consider these questions in her 2008 Silha Lecture, "Raise Your Hand if You're a Journalist: Does Responsible Reporting Need a Legal Defense?" on October 6, 2008, at Cowles Auditorium at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

Butterworth investigates and responds to readers' questions and complaints about the Guardian's print and online editions from a position of independence within the newspaper. She writes a weekly commentary and considers items for the daily "Corrections and Clarifications" column. Before becoming readers' editor in April 2007, Butterworth served as Legal Director for Guardian News & Media, publisher of the Guardian and its sister Sunday paper, The Observer. She qualified as a solicitor (attorney) in 1991, and was in private practice before joining Guardian News & Media in 1997.

The Guardian, founded in 1821, is an independent newspaper owned by the Scott Trust since 1936. Its guiding principle, as stated by former editor CP Scott, is: "Comment is free, but facts are sacred. The voice of opponents no less than that of friends has a right to be heard." The innovative Guardian Unlimited network of websites was launched in January 1999, and is the second-largest news destination in the United Kingdom after BBC News Online. More than four million visitors from the United States log on each month.

For more about this event, click on any of the following links:
Video of the 2008 Silha Lecture with Siobhain Butterworth
Silha Bulletin story following the 34th Annual Silha Lecture with Siobhain Butterworth.
Silha Bulletin story preceding the 34th Annual Silha Lecture with Siobhain Butterworth.

Event Location

Cowles Auditorium, West Bank

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