"Watchdogs or Lap Dogs?

Politics and the Alabama Press"

Scott Horton, of Harper's magazine and Columbia Law School

Tuesday, April 22 @ 7:00 p.m.

Shelby Center, University of Alabama in Huntsville campus

(off Sparkman Drive at Lakeside Drive)

FREE and open to the public

Event sponsors: North Alabama Media Reform; UAHuntsville Communication Arts Department; UAHuntsville Political Science Department, Humanities Division of Calhoun Community College; Alabama A&M University Political Science Department

Scott Horton, a writer for Harper's Magazine and adjunct professor at Columbia Law School , pulls no punches in taking the major Alabama newspapers to task. When coverage of a major statewide issue is slanted or nonexistent, Horton shares the problems that arise from having three of the four major newspapers in the same corporate hands. (The Birmingham News, Huntsville Times and Mobile Register are all owned by the national media conglomerate Advance Publications). What are the growing challenges to print media today? What are the realistic challenges and opportunities with Internet publishing? Through the current political case involving former Governor Siegelman, Horton tracks the dynamics of Alabama's media coverage, and shows how that dynamic is being exploded by the U.S. national press and the Internet.

Similar media-driven political prosecution stories exist in Alabama's history. Horton starts his discussion with the case of Alabama's Chief Justice Thomas W. Peters, of Moulton. In the 1870s and 80s, Peters was a promethean figure who advocated racial equality and civil rights - and who was destroyed by Bourbon political forces and the newspapers they controlled in a process that bears startling similarity to recent events. The more recent process of political prosecutions has involved Richmond Flowers, Guy Hunt and Fob James. Horton's talk ultimately explores how these media problems reflect upon a mature democracy and the actions Alabama citizens can take.

Horton is a legal affairs contributor to Harper's Magazine and an adjunct professor at Columbia Law School, where among other things he teaches a seminar training journalists in the coverage of legal matters. He also writes a column for the American Lawyer and has written for many other publications in the United States and abroad. He has worked as an advisor to CBS News and the Associated Press. Horton's interest in Alabama politics stems from his roots: his family is from Lawrence County, Alabama. A life-long human rights advocate, Horton is a well-known international practitioner. He recently led a number of studies on issues associated with the conduct of the war on terror for the New York City Bar Association, where he has chaired several committees including the Committee on International Law. Most recently, Horton has appeared on MSNBC, National Public Radio, Democracy Now! and other national programs to discuss the political prosecution of Alabama's former Governor Don Siegelman.

More info: Linda Haynes, 256-489-3884, lahaynes@knology.net