More than 100 print and broadcast reporters and editors from across Tennessee will gather in Nashville June 6 to attend a Law School for Journalists, co-sponsored by the Tennessee Supreme Court and the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University.
“Legal issues and the judicial system are complex, yet reporters are expected to understand and explain them with little or no legal training,” Chief Justice Frank F. Drowota, III, said. “The 109 journalists who have registered to attend this program will be better equipped to cover courts, legal issues and legal proceedings. And that, in turn, will benefit all Tennesseans."
Drowota and First Amendment Center founder and veteran journalist John Seigenthaler will present opening remarks at Monday’s program at the First Amendment Center. Seigenthaler is a former president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors and served 43 years as a reporter, editor, publisher and CEO of The Tennessean newspaper. He also was founding editorial director of USA today.
“We are extremely proud to welcome the Law School for Journalists to the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center,” Seigenthaler said. “There is no journalistic assignment more important than coverage of the administration of justice. This forum offers the news media a rare opportunity to interact with judges and lawyers and to enhance the relationship between journalists and the judiciary."
Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, will deliver the keynote address. She is a former media lawyer and was named to the inaugural class of the National Freedom of Information Act Hall of Fame in 1996. Dalglish earned a juris doctor degree from Vanderbilt University Law School; a master of studies in law degree from Yale Law School; and a bachelor of arts in journalism from the University of North Dakota.
The Law School for Journalists will feature seminars and panels designed to provide information to journalists covering courts, the legal system and legal proceedings as their regular “beat” and those who may cover courts only occasionally. Journalists who have registered represent urban and rural newspapers, television stations, radio stations, the Associated Press and university journalism schools.
Faculty members, in addition to Drowota and Seigenthaler, are Justices Adolpho A. Birch, Jr., E. Riley Anderson, Janice M. Holder and William M. Barker; Court of Appeals Judge Patricia Cottrell; Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Robert Wedemeyer; Circuit Court Judge Barbara Haynes; Criminal Court Judge Mark Ward; General Sessions Judge Gale Robinson; Juvenile Court Judge Betty Adams Green; Administrative Director of the Courts Cornelia Clark; First Amendment Center Executive Director Gene Policinski; state Solicitor General Michael Moore; veteran journalist Kent Flanagan; Frank Gibson, executive director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government; attorneys Charles Grant, Robb Harvey and Douglas Pierce; and photo-journalist Micheal Redd.
Topics to be covered are an overview of local, state and federal court systems; the legal process in capital cases; appellate process; cameras in the courtroom; shield laws; and access to records.
The Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association is hosting a reception for faculty and journalists following the program. Underwriters for 600 copies of a Media Guide to Tennessee’s Legal System are the First Amendment Center, the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, Society for Professional Journalists Middle Tennessee Chapter, The Tennessean, the Knoxville News-Sentinel and the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association. The books will be provided to law school participants and other Tennessee journalists.