LSU welcomes the 2014 50 years John Breaux Symposium. The focus on the event brought the question how well is the public being informed and what must be done to increase awareness and debate?
Many students including LSU sophomore Kristin White attended the event.
“I’m here for my mass comm. media law class. We just recently learned about Times v. Sullivan and how it relates to journalism as a whole,” White said.
Speakers included first women governor of Louisiana Kathleen Blanco, Dean of the Manship School of Mass Communication at LSU Jerry Ceppos, visiting law professor Paul Finkelmen, former VP of the New York Times James Goodale, ethics and law professor Jane Kirtley, Dr. Regina Lawrence, Amy Reynolds and Jack Weis, chancellor of the LSU Law Center.
“It’s really interesting hearing professional opinions on how both sides evolved and developed first amendment rights and stuff in today’s society, you know, with online stuff with social media Twitter, Facebook and all that so I think it’s really interesting to hear about it,” White said.
Students who could not attend the event were tweeting #breaux14.
Wednesday consisted of the origins of the case New York Times v. Sullivan connecting the case’s roots in the early civil rights movement in the South and the article from the New York Times.
Thursday consisted of three panels to discuss the case for media and the law through social media and its future impact toward society.