FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT Justin Silverman | 774.244.2365 | justin@nefac.org
The New England First Amendment Coalition will present a panel discussion on freedom of speech and the press on May 23 at Millicent Library, 45 Center St., Fairhaven, Mass.
The discussion, titled “The First Amendment, Freedom of the Press and the Right to Read,” will be from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. and will feature several prominent constitutional experts and former journalists. The program is free and open to the public.
Speakers include:
Karen Bordeleau | Bordeleau is a retired executive editor of The Providence Journal and an award-winning journalist. She now teaches journalism in the United States and abroad. She has served as a juror for the Pulitzer Prizes in 2015 and 2016. Bordeleau is president of NEFAC.
Chris Daly | Daly is a veteran journalist and a professor at Boston University. He spent 10 years at the Associated Press and covered New England for the Washington Post. He is the author of a prize-winning history of U.S. journalism, Covering America: A Narrative History of a Nation’s Journalism.
Edward Fitzpatrick (moderator) | As the Providence Journal’s political columnist, Fitzpatrick championed First Amendment freedoms, pressing for access to public records. He is now the director of media and public relations at Roger Williams University.
Gregory V. Sullivan Esq. | Sullivan has served as general counsel for the Union Leader Corporation for the past 39 years. He teaches First Amendment Media Law at Suffolk University Law School in Boston and at the Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications in Manchester, N.H.
The event is part of NEFAC’s Featured Speaker Program which launched in January to help increase First Amendment education in high schools, college classrooms and community centers. NEFAC recently presented to students at the University of New Hampshire; high school students in Bridgeport, Conn., and at the annual New England Scholastic Press Association conference at Boston University.
Learn more about our Featured Speaker Program here.
NEFAC was formed in 2006 to advance and protect the Five Freedoms of the First Amendment, including the principle of the public’s right to know. We’re a broad-based organization of people who believe in the power of an informed democratic society. Our members include lawyers, journalists, historians, academics and private citizens.
Our coalition is funded through contributions made by those who value the First Amendment and who strive to keep government accountable. Please make a donation here.
Major Supporters of NEFAC include the Barr Foundation, The Providence Journal Charitable Legacy Fund, The Robertson Foundation, The Boston Globe, WBUR and Boston University.