Trib columnist Clarence Page to speak

In the wake of a scandal that rocked the New York Times, Clarence Page, Pulitzer Prize-winning Chicago Tribune columnist, will visit the UW–Madison campus this week to illuminate the ethical challenges reporters face.

Page will deliver the 2003 Ralph O. Nafziger Lecture Thursday, Oct. 2, for the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. His speech, “Media Ethics is Not a Contradiction,” will offer an insider’s perspective on living up to audience, source and social expectations.

“I cannot think of a more opportune time for our Nafziger Lecturer to address ethics,” says Kathleen Culver, an instructor in the school who is coordinating Page’s visit. “When Jayson Blair’s falsified stories in the New York Times came to light, even novice reporting students sensed the credibility crisis that would follow.”

Culver says Page’s perspective will be valuable not only to students, but also to all who rely on news media for information.

“We talk repeatedly in our classrooms about never losing your integrity or the power of your word,” Culver says. “Now those who will write news and those who consume it can understand that message from a national media veteran.”

A Tribune columnist and member of the paper’s editorial board since 1984, Page began working as a city reporter in Chicago in the 1960s. His column is syndicated nationally by Tribune Media Services and earned him the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.

James Baughman, director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, praises Page’s approach to commentary. “Wisdom is offered most effectively in a calm voice,” he says. “While much of interpretive journalism lapses into vitriolic name-calling, Clarence Page continues to be a strong but civil dispenser of opinion.”

Page has written extensively in other publications and is widely known for his book, “Showing My Color: Impolite Essays on Race and Identity.” He regularly contributes to broadcast news programs, offering commentary on WGN-TV in Chicago and “The McLaughlin Group,” among others. Page is also a regular panelist on Black Entertainment Television’s “Lead Story.”

The Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame inducted Page in 1992. He also has earned awards from the Wisconsin and Illinois chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union for his columns on civil liberties and constitutional rights. Other awards include a 1980 Illinois United Press International Award for an investigative series, “The Black Tax.” An Edward Scott Beck Award honored his 1976 series on the changing politics of South Africa.

Page’s lecture is free and open to the public. It will begin at 4:30 p.m. in Room 1100 Grainger Hall, 975 University Ave. For more information, contact the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at (608) 262-3690 or visit http://www.journalism.wisc.edu/.