First Reynolds symposium analyzes CBS broadcast
Michael Missal ’78, who led an inquiry into CBS News’ conduct in its coverage of President Bush’s National Guard Service, returned to Washington and Lee on March 17 to deliver the keynote address for the inaugural Reynolds Media, Courts and the Law Symposium.
Missal has led a number of high-profile investigations as a partner in the Washington office of law firm Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis LLP. He was joined by Walter Dean, a former CBS News assignment manager who is now with the committee of Concerned Journalists; Thomas Spahn, a First Amendment lawyer and national authority on legal ethics and conflicts of interest; and Ed Wasserman, W&L’s Knight Professor of Journalism Ethics. The four discussed how competitive pressure, timing and politics can trump news judgment.
More than 80 students, faculty and visiting journalists attended the symposium in the law school’s Millhiser Moot Court Room.
“It was incredibly refreshing to know that journalists still have these conversations and engage in thoughtful debates about the ethical decisions,” said Journalism major Jessica Shaw ’09. “I have a renewed faith in the profession.”
The symposium was made possible by a grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation. The foundation in 1999 established the university’s Reynolds Chair and Program in Business Journalism. Subsequent grants have funded annual symposiums, visiting journalists, collaborations with the law school and the Williams School of Commerce, Economics and Politics, and a 3-year position to teach legal reporting in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communications.
“We are deeply grateful to the Reynolds Foundation for its continuing generous support of our program,” Department Head Brian Richardson said. “We’re very excited that the Foundation’s latest support is allowing us to strengthen and expand our collaboration with our colleagues in other disciplines, including the School of Law.
“This symposium, with its distinguished participants and timely topic, is the perfect example of that collaboration.”
The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation is a national philanthropic organization founded in 1954 by the late media entrepreneur for whom it is named. Headquartered in Las Vegas, Nev., it is one of the largest private foundations in the United States.
W&L’s Reynolds Programs Coordinator, John Muncie, was also delighted with the response.
"We pulled the symposium together very quickly, but the W&L community responded wonderfully,” Muncie said. “It's a great start to this series. We're looking forward to making next year's even bigger and better."