Speakers Series to feature Pulitzer Prize winners, news anchors


Two Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists, a National Public Radio correspondent, three TV news anchors, the former editor of The Washington Post and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio will headline a Monday night speakers series this fall at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

The Must See Monday series will be held at 7 p.m. in the First Amendment Forum of the Cronkite building on the Downtown Phoenix campus of Arizona State University.  

The school also announced its movie schedule for Cronkite Night at the Movies, which features journalism-themed films in the forum starting at 7 p.m. on Wednesdays. The events are free and open to the public. Leonard Downie Jr., former executive editor of The Washington Post, will kick off the speakers series on Sept. 14 with a discussion on investigative reporting and the role of accountability journalism in today’s media world.

Downie, who led his newspaper to more Pulitzer Prizes than any editor in history, is joining the faculty of the Cronkite School as the Weil Family Professor of Journalism.

The fall speakers series will wrap up on Nov. 30 with a “Meet the Press”-style interview of Arpaio. That session will focus on the sheriff’s relationship with the Valley and national news media. He will be interviewed by three Cronkite faculty members.

The full fall Must See Monday lineup includes:

• Sept. 21: Katie Raml and Steve Irvin, ABC 15 evening news anchors

• Sept. 28: Julie Cart, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, Los Angeles Times

• Oct. 5: Kathleen Bade, Fox 5 anchor, San Diego

• Oct. 12: James Gregg, photojournalist, Arizona Daily Star

• Oct. 19: Diana B. Henriques, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, The New York Times and Andrew Leckey, Donald W. Reynolds Chair in Business Journalism, on covering financial scandals

• Oct. 26: A panel discussion on social media featuring Jody Brannon, national director of the Carnegie-Knight News21 Journalism Initiative; Retha Hill, director of the New Media Innovation Lab; Dan Gillmor, director of the Knight Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship; and assistant professor Dawn Gilpin

• Nov. 2: Mei-Ling Hopgood, journalist and author of the memoir “Lucky Girl”

• Nov. 9: Susan Feeney, senior editor, National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered”

• Nov. 16: Jason Manning, managing editor, Carnegie-Knight News21 Journalism Initiative, with News21 students, on digital news innovation

• Nov. 23: Aaron Brown, Cronkite Professor of Journalism, host of PBS “Wide Angle” and former CNN anchor, on international reporting

• Nov. 30: Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio on his relationship with the news media, interviewed by Rick Rodriguez, Carnegie Professor of Journalism and former Sacramento Bee executive editor; Susan Green, broadcast director of Cronkite News Service and former ABC 15 managing editor; and Steve Elliott, digital news director of Cronkite News Service and former AP Phoenix bureau chief.

The Cronkite Night at the Movies schedule is:

• Sept. 9: "A Mighty Heart," introduced by Jody Brannon, national director of the Carnegie-Knight News21 Journalism Initiative

• Sept. 16: "All the President's Men," introduced by Leonard Downie Jr., former executive editor of the Washington Post and Weil Family Professor of Journalism

• Sept. 23: "Veronica Guerin," introduced by associate professor Bill Silcock

• Oct. 7: "Shattered Glass," introduced by Steve Elliott, digital director of Cronkite News Service

• Oct. 14: "Broadcast News" with Cronkite NewsWatch News Director Mark Lodato

• Oct. 20: "The Insider" with associate professor Joseph Russomanno

• Oct. 28: "Frost/Nixon" with lecturer Amanda Crawford

• Nov. 4: "Live from Baghdad" with assistant dean Kristin Gilger

• Nov. 18: "Good Night, and Good Luck" with professor John Craft, curator of the Marguerite and Jack Clifford Gallery

• Dec. 2: "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" with Cronkite News Service Broadcast Director Sue Green