Local News Options for Newspaperless Communities

Tuesday, June 2 at 5:00pm to 7:00pm

Westminster Hall

The Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland will host an evening symposium on June 2 to discuss what happens to local news if the major metropolitan daily newspaper shuts down and what news options might takes its place. The 2009 Abell Symposium, entitled “The End of Local News? If Communities Lose Newspapers, Who Will Fill the Void?”, will be held 5 to 7 p.m. in Westminster Hall (519 West Fayette Street, Baltimore, MD) on the University of Maryland Baltimore campus.

Panelists include:
- Monty Cook, editor, The Baltimore Sun.
- Mark Potts, former reporter for the Chicago Tribune and Washington Post, cofounder of WashingtonPost.com and proponent of hyperlocal, user-generated news sites.
- Jayne Miller, chief investigative reporter, WBAL-TV.
- John J. Oliver Jr., publisher, The Afro-American.
- Timothy A. Franklin, Louis A.Weil, Jr. Endowed Chair, Indiana University School of Journalism, former editor, The Baltimore Sun.

Merrill College Dean Kevin Klose, former president of National Public Radio and long-time broadcast executive and print journalist, will moderate the evening. The symposium is a program of the Merrill College’s Abell Professor in Baltimore Journalism, now held by former Baltimore newswoman Sandy Banisky.

The event is free and open to the public. Baltimore community members are especially encouraged to attend.

For more information, please contact Abell Professor Sandy Banisky (sbanisky@jmail.umd.edu) or Merrill College Director of Public Affairs Matt Sheehan (sheehan@umd.edu).