Journalism department celebrates National Newspaper Week

By Andy Damián-Correa

acorrea@theguardsman.com

 

City College’s journalism, broadcasting and photography departments worked with the California Newspaper Publishers Association in hosting six events in October to recognize of the significance of journalism.

The events celebrated the 78th anniversary of National Newspaper Week, which is centered around the impact of newspapers to communities large and small. For about 227 years, freedom of the press has been one of the key tenets of a free democracy.

Smaller newspapers in particular provide local news about communities that are frequently overlooked by bigger news outlets. City College’s student-run newspaper the Guardsman, for example, reports on issues concerning the college community. This month, the staff joined other newspaper staffs across the nation in celebrating the the First Amendment and the free press.

The departments gathered at Ram Plaza on Oct. 10 to host an information table, where students spoke about journalists’ role in society. Two days later, journalism department chair Juan Gonzales discussed the news media in the age of Trump on KCSF.

On Oct. 17, award-winning Washington, D.C. journalist Ronald Cohen, who reported on the resignation of President Richard Nixon, spoke to a crowded Rosenberg Library room. A day later, the film “All the President’s Men,” which covers the Watergate Scandal, was played in Rosenberg Library.

The next day, the photojournalists behind the exhibit “Photojournalists in the Line of Fire,” Lou Dematteis and Kim Komenich, discussed the role of reporters especially when covering war zones.

The movie “The Post,” which covers journalists’ attempts to publish the Pentagon Papers, was shown on Oct. 23.