MEDIA CONTACT: Wendy Leopold at 847-491-4890 or w-leopold@northwestern.edu

September 21, 2004

Doctorow, Fallows Among Crain Lecture Speakers

EVANSTON, Ill. --- An Oct. 4 discussion of the press coverage of this summer’s Olympics will kick off the fall season of the Crain Lectures Series at Northwestern University.

The admission-free, public lectures bring newsmakers and news analysts to Northwestern's Evanston campus to explore different perspectives on current events. Topics in the Medill School of Journalism’s popular lecture series this fall will include the wars in Vietnam and Iraq, the presidential election and the role of the writer.

The complete fall lecture schedule is below. All presentations will take place at 4 p.m. in the Medill School's McCormick Tribune Center Forum, 1870 Campus Drive, Evanston.

Monday, Oct. 4: “Critiquing the Olympics Coverage,” with Alan Abrahamson, Los Angeles Times reporter; Christine Brennan, USA Today columnist; Mike Wilbon, Washington Post columnist and ESPN co-host of “Pardon the Interruption.” All three are Medill School graduates.

Monday, Oct. 13: “Ragtime” and “Billy Bathgate” author and New Yorker contributor E. L. Doctorow presents “The Reporter’s Mission: Apprehending Reality.”

Monday, Nov. 8: Former prisoners-of-war Edward Mechenbier (U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War) and David Williams (U.S. Army during the ongoing war with Iraq) share their perspectives in a discussion titled “Prisoners-of-War: Vietnam v. Iraq.” The lecture is held in conjunction with a traveling museum exhibit titled “Open Doors: Vietnam POWs 30 Years Later” that will be on display in the lobby of the McCormick Tribune Center.

Monday, Nov. 15: Atlantic Monthly national correspondent James Fallows will discuss the presidential election results in a speech titled “The Election: How and Why?”

For further information about the Crain Lectures, call (847) 491-5401 or check the Medill School of Journalism Web site at http://www.medill.northwestern.edu.