Release date: Jan. 24, 2003

Contact: Leonard Witt, Robert D. Fowler Distinguished Chair in Communication, 770 423-6925 or Lwitt@kennesaw.edu

Worldwide Charter Meeting set for new Professional Society for Public Journalism

Where:
Kennesaw State University, outside of Atlanta
For more information go to: www.KennesawSummit.kennesaw.edu

When:
Jan. 24-25

Why:
When the Pew Center for Civic Journalism, currently the only central resource for civic journalism, closes shop in the spring of 2003, civic journalism will need a navigation vehicle to take it into the future. "That vehicle should be a professional journalists' organization like the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors, IRE, or the Organization of News Ombudsmen," said Leonard Witt, the Robert D. Fowler Distinguished Chair in Communication at Kennesaw State University and former executive director of the Civic Journalism Initiative at Minnesota Public Radio.

Who:
Journalists, academics and citizen advocates from around the world attend the charter meeting Jan. 24-25. These meetings will be a historic moment in the evolution of public or civic journalism.

###

Kennesaw State University is a comprehensive, residential institution with a growing student population of 15,600 from 118 countries. The fifth largest out of 34 institutions in the University System of Georgia, KSU offers 55 undergraduate and graduate degree programs.