Oct. 25 LWV event to ask: Is the news media doing its job?

Miranda Spivack

Press conferences, rallies, debates, interviews, soundbites and 24-hour coverage of “breaking news” --- we have been inundated with so much information.

But is the news media doing its job during this historic presidential campaign? No other industry has a constitutionally guaranteed right to perform its duties.

But in this historic campaign between a reality TV star/businessman and the first woman nominated by a major political party, many critics say the news media isn’t doing the right thing.

What is the proper role for the news media in our democracy? What should the public demand from the media?

Miranda S. Spivack, the Pulliam Distinguished Visiting Professor of Journalism at DePauw University, will be answering those questions on Tuesday, Oct. 25 in an event sponsored by the Greencastle League of Women Voters (LWV).

The free public program will begin at 7 p.m. in Watson Forum of the DePauw Pulliam Center for Contemporary Media (southeast corner of Locust and Elm streets).

Spivack is a former Washington Post reporter and editor who specializes in government accountability stories. A veteran of more than 40 years in the business, she is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, and holds a master’s degree from Yale Law School.

Spivack has won numerous journalism awards, including a first-place award from the Maryland, DC, Delaware Press Association for local government reporting for a series of stories on lack of transparency at the state and local level.

She is currently working on a series about government secrecy for the Center for Investigative Reporting.