Dalglish tapped as keynote speaker for NNA summit

Feb 25, 2016

WASHINGTON—Lucy Dalglish, a nationally-recognized First Amendment advocate and lawyer, will be the keynote speaker at the National Newspaper Association’s Community Newspaper Leadership Summit, March 16-17 in Washington.

Dalglish, who is currently dean of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, will address community newspaper publishers, editors and NNA Foundation News Fellows at the National Press Club the evening of March 17.

Dalglish served as executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press from 2000 to 2012. There, she became the go-to source for reporters covering First Amendment conflicts and the guiding light for free press policy in America. Before leading the Reporters Committee, Dalglish was a media lawyer for almost five years in the trial department of the Minneapolis law firm of Dorsey & Whitney, and worked for more than a decade as a reporter and editor for the St. Paul (MN) Pioneer Press. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of North Dakota, a master of studies in law degree from Yale Law School and a juris doctor degree from Vanderbilt University School of Law.

NNA President Chip Hutcheson, publisher of The Times-Leader in Princeton, KY, said he has also invited Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, to walk on for brief remarks. McConnell’s appearance will depend upon the press of Senate business.

Hutcheson urged publishers to make time for the 2016 summit. With a high-octane election year rolling out, Congress will be under pressure to make major decisions on issues that affect newspapers. NNA members will visit Capitol Hill the afternoon of March 17. Among the issues they will tackle with their Congressional delegations:

• A continuing threat to tax advertising by depriving advertisers of the ability to deduct expenses.

• The imminent possibility of further-reduced U.S. Postal Service standards as a paralyzed Congress has been unable for the past six years to find a postal reform bill it likes—but may finally be able to accomplish this year.

• The looming new regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act, which will impose upon newsrooms the burden of covering the news with smaller staffs and inflexible work weeks.

• A new Freedom of Information Act bill that could bolster the powers of the Office of Government Information Services, which acts as an ombudsman for reporters seeking federal records.

As publishers visit Congress, the NNA Foundation will host News Fellows, supported by their state press associations. The Fellows engage in an intense week of briefings and newsgathering on a high-profile topic. They return home to write a national story with a local angle. This year’s theme is: “Terrorism: a War of Arms or a War of Ideas.”

Publishers interested in improving their postal delivery are urged to bring their printers to a nuts-and-bolts training session at the Printers Workshop being held at the U.S. Postal Service headquarters March 16.

Information on all Summit events is available at www.nnaweb.org.