On Thursday, Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh will address issues such as the treatment of prisoners, foreign policy and the effectiveness and justification of torture in a campus lecture, “The Question of Torture.”
An investigative journalist, Hersh has gained a reputation for exposing the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War and covering the mistreatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
This is the first presidential lecture during Richard Lariviere’s term as University president. Lariviere said in a press release that Hersh’s visit is important to University students.
“Hersh has engaged his profession with bravery and great skill,” Lariviere said. “From his expose of the My Lai massacre in 1969 to his most recent articles in the New Yorker on the use of torture, Hersh represents for our students a model of courage and journalistic excellence.”
David Frank, dean of the Robert D. Clark Honors College and chair of Savage Endowment, both groups that sponsored the event, called Hersh “one of the most important journalists in the world.”
In his public speeches, Hersh uses current issues he has covered as a catalyst in discussing broader issues such as foreign policy and international politics, Frank said. Specifically in his lecture on Thursday, Hersh will explore various topics such as the Obama administration’s stance on the wars in the Middle East and South Asia. He will also discuss the effectiveness of the war in Afghanistan and the global war on terror.
Hersh has received numerous awards for his work in investigative journalism. His awards include a Pulitzer, five George Polk Awards and two National Magazine Awards.
Starting his career as a police reporter for the City News Bureau of Chicago, Hersh has held various jobs in the field of journalism and communications. He was the speech writer and press secretary for Eugene McCarthy’s presidential campaign in 1967, and he started working at The New York Times in 1972. Hersh has also published eight books on events and coverage throughout his journalism career.
Hersh will give an encore lecture on Friday at the University’s White Stag building in Portland.
“Mr. Hersh is a popular speaker, and we’ve had a lot of interest in this event,” said Abbie Stillie, event coordinator and public information representative of the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics.
“(Hersh) knows more about torture and human rights than anyone else in the newspaper world,” Cheyney Ryan, professor of philosophy and Savage Endowment member, said. “There’s been a huge international issue on torture. This is an ongoing issue.”
The event is sold out, but there will be overflow seating in the EMU Fir Room.
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Prize-winning journalist speaks on torture
Daily Emerald
February 17, 2010
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