This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Oct. 2, 2011 - Jon Sawyer, founding director of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and former Chief Washington Correspondent of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, will present the 16th James C. Millstone Memorial Lecture at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 6 at the Saint Louis University School of Law.
Revered American journalist Richard Dudman will be honored at the lecture for a lifetime of distinguished contributions to American journalism and international affairs.
In Sawyer's lecture, "Bringing Stories Home: New Approaches to Covering the World," he will discuss both the decline of international reporting in American journalism and the Pultizer Center's work to revive the tradition.
The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting is a nonprofit organization that funds independent reporting to raise standards of media coverage and engages the broadest possible public in global affairs. The Center partners with major online publications, newspapers, magazines and broadcast outlets as well as universities and high schools across the country.
Sawyer has been selected three years in a row for the National Press Club's award for best foreign reporting. The Pulitzer Center won an Emmy for new approaches to news and documentary, the National Press Foundation's prize for best online journalism, the National Press Club's prize for best online journalism, and the Asia Society's Goldman Sachs Foundation Prize for best use of technology in international education. He lives in Washington.
Dudman, was for many years Chief Washington Correspondent of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. During his long career, he gained recognition as one of the paper's most celebrated reporters on national and international affairs.
On assignment in Southeast Asia in 1970, Vietcong guerrillas in Cambodia captured Dudman. He was released after about five weeks when he persuaded his captors he was a newspaperman and not a CIA spy.
His capture led to a series of articles for the Post-Dispatch and a book titled, "40 Days with the Enemy." His other book, "Men of the Far Right," was published in 1962.
James C. Millstone frequently was described as the conscience of the Post-Dispatch. He combined a passion for honest reporting with remarkable personal integrity. He exerted a powerful influence over the content of the newspaper and served as a model and inspiration to its staff for more than 30 years.
Millstone's passions in journalism, along with fairness, primarily centered on civil rights, the law and social justice. As a reporter, he covered the civil rights movement of the early 1960s; the riots in Washington, D.C., after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; the police riot at the Democratic Convention in 1968; and, for many years, the Supreme Court.
As the newspaper's top news editor, Millstone influenced the direction of the paper and was a mentor to many young reporters. The Millstone Lecture Series was designed to perpetuate interest in his many journalistic passions, which included the legal system and civil liberties.
The program will be in the William H. Kneip Courtroom at the Saint Louis University School of Law, 3700 Lindell Blvd. at Spring. It is free and open to the public. A reception will follow the program.
Editor's Note:
Many of the founding members of the St. Louis Beacon helped to found the Millstone Lecture. The Beacon and the SLU law school are sponsors of the event.