Symposium brings dozens of international journalists to UO

Campus community is invited to hear from and converse with international journalists, writers in exile, and scholars of journalism at the Extra! Extra! Don't Kill the Messenger symposium

By Tim Christie, Office of the Provost
March 22, 2024

Members of the UO community are invited to a four-day symposium featuring international journalists, writers in exile, and scholars of journalism telling stories of reporting in the face of extreme dangers and threats to their voice and journalistic integrity.  

The symposium, titled Extra! Extra! Don’t Kill the Messenger — Migrating to Stay Alive, takes place April 4-7 in the Erb Memorial Union Ballroom and features more than 20 talks, workshops, screenings, and listening sessions. Visit the event webpage to learn more about programs and speakers and to register for the event. 

The event is designed to improve understanding of the impact of news reporting on conflict, and the impact of conflict on news reporting.  UO faculty and students who are interested in journalism and international affairs are encouraged to attend. 

“In an era when journalists worldwide are in the crosshairs of villains who would silence them, the symposium is designed to draw attention not just to dangers and victims but also to the creative array of solutions being developed to keep the flow of credible news reporting flowing to us all,” said Peter Laufer, director of the symposium and the James Wallace Chair Professor of Journalism in the School of Journalism and Communication.  

Each day has a different theme: 

• Thursday, April 4: Impunity;
• Friday, April 5: From Kabul to Harare;
• Saturday, April 6: South of the Border/El Otro Lado;
• Sunday, April 7: Our Own Backyard.  

Panelists and hosts include UO faculty, administrators and students, as well as journalists and writers from around the globe.   

Planning for the event has been in the works for nearly a year and came about after Laufer and other organizers learned about the plight of Mexican journalists Juan de Dios García Davish and MarÍa de Jesús Peters, who are the keynote speakers.  

After their reporting on government corruption and narcotics trafficking resulted in credible death threats, the two fled Chiapas, Mexico, for Arizona in 2022. 

“We began researching similar such stories worldwide, and the overwhelming number of attempts—too many successful—to muzzle journalists led us to do what we can to spread the word: these dangers to individual reporters are attacks on us all,” Laufer said. 

The event is hosted by the Global Studies Institute through the Global Justice Program and supported by the UO-UNESCO Crossings Institute, the School of Journalism and Communications, the Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies, and the Oregon Humanities Center.