FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT Justin Silverman | 774.244.2365 | justin@nefac.org
Michael Donoghue, a longtime Vermont journalist and first vice president of the New England First Amendment Coalition, will discuss the First Amendment and his 50 years covering Vermont news on Oct. 7 at the South Hero Library, 75 South Street, South Hero, Vt.
The discussion will begin at 6 p.m. The program is free and open to the public.
MICHAEL DONOGHUE | Donoghue was selected as the 2013 New England Journalist of the Year by the New England Society of News Editors and in 2015 received the Matthew Lyon First Amendment Award. Donoghue has served as an officer, including executive director, with the Vermont Press Association since 1979. He is often credited as being a driving force behind the improvement to Vermont’s open government (public records and meetings) legislation. Donoghue and the Burlington Free Press were honored often for his work on the local, state, regional and national level. Donoghue was selected in 2007 as the winner of the Yankee Quill Award, the top lifetime honor for print and electronic journalists in New England. He has been inducted into five Halls of Fame, including as a charter member for the New England Press Association’s Hall of Fame and as a charter member for the Society of Professional Journalists/National Freedom of Information Coalition Hall of Fame. NEFAC’s annual Freedom of Information Award is named after Donoghue. He is a former two-term national president of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association and is a 10-time Sportswriter of the Year from Vermont.
The event is part of NEFAC’s Featured Speaker Program, 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, among other New England locations and audiences.
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.