Salem State Event To Examine Dangers Journalists Face

SALEM, MA — Salem State University will host a public conversation next week on the dangers journalists face while gathering the news, from physical threats in conflict zones to pressure closer to home.

The event, titled "The Risks of Reporting: What It Takes to Tell the Story," is scheduled for Wednesday at Salem State’s Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies.

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Lauren Walsh, founding director of the Gallatin Photojournalism Intensive at New York University and executive director of the Overseas Press Club, will speak during the discussion about what organizers describe as the human cost of reporting.

The event is at 6 p.m. in the Petrowski Room on the second floor of Marsh Hall at Salem State’s Harrington Campus. The program will be offered both in person and remotely.

Walsh is the author of multiple books, including "Conversations on Conflict Photography." The university said she has also published widely on photojournalism, moral injury, war crimes, censorship and visual ethics.

Christopher Mauriello, director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, tied the event to the center's broader focus on democratic institutions and public life.

"For international journalists, reporting on war, political protests, or disasters is often physically dangerous," Mauriello said. "Some are being held hostage while others are being murdered for their covering the story. Being a reporter in the United States, meanwhile, has become more difficult under this administration.

"Our mission focuses on issues that are challenges to democracy, and freedom of the press and protection of the press are critical pillars to democracy. Journalism plays an essential role in democracy, so when it is threatened, democracy itself is threatened."

The university is asking people to register in advance whether they plan to attend online or in person. Online registration is available here, and in-person registration is available here.