The Carlos Kelly McClatchy Memorial Lectures and Symposia

The Carlos Kelly McClatchy Memorial Lectures and Symposia were established in 1964 to bring Stanford University distinguished national and world leaders in the field of journalism. Its purpose is to give students a first hand insight into the responsibilities of journalism in a democratic society and to stimulate critical thinking about the performance of the mass media in the world today.

Carlos Kelly McClatchy, 1891-1933, was born in Sacramento, the son of the editor of the Sacramento Bee, where following graduation from Columbia University, he began his newspaper career. During World War I, he served with distinction with a California infantry regiment in France, earning his captaincy via a field promotion "in recognition of his gallantry" during the battle of the Argonne Forest. Following the Armistice, McClatchy returned to Sacramento to cover political campaigns, write editorials, and serve as the paper's national correspondent in Washington, D.C. In 1922 he founded the Fresno Bee, which he edited until his death. In 1923 he became general manager of the McClatchy Newspapers, and a few years later played a central role in the development of the McClatchy radio system. From 1922 until his death, McClatchy continued to build a reputation as an aggressive independent editor, always willing to challenge entrenched viewpoints. At his death, the Fresno Bee wrote that the West had lost "one of the most brilliant, progressive and dynamic of its newspaper personalities."

Many lectures and symposia are available for free download: Dept. of Communication on Stanford iTunes

2011

• Washington Showdown: Budget Battles and Partisan Interests
  Susan Davis, John Harris, David Leonhardt, David W. Brady
  
  • Symposium Audio

• Does Public Broadcasting Have a Future?
  Tim Olson, Ulrich Wilhelm, Dan Werner, Shanto Iyengar - Gerhard Casper moderates
  
  • Symposium Audio

2010

• News and Inclusion: Journalism and the Politics of Diversity
  Featuring scholars from Singapore, Finland, Australia, The Netherlands, Canada, England and the United States.

• New Times: The Future of Journalism
  Philip Balboni, Alberto Ibarguen, Paul Steiger, Arthur Sulzberger, Martin Nisenholtz, Joel Brinkley
  
  • Symposium Video

2009

• Covering the Economic Crisis
  Diana Henriques, Alan Murray, Steven Pearlstein, Stephen Shepard

2008

• The Press & The Presidency: Covering Campaign 2008
  Dan Balz, Elisabeth Bumiller, Anne Kornblut, Adam Nagourney, Walter Shapiro

2007

• Pressing Times: Can Newspapers Survive in the New World of Journalism?
  Bill Keller, Gary Pruitt, Marissa Mayer, Harry Chandler, Joel Brinkley

2006

• Covering the War in Iraq
  Dexter Filkins, Ann Garrels, George Packer, Larry Diamond

• Red & Blue America? The Polarization of American Politics
  Morris Fiorina, John Harris, Rich Lowry, Gary Jacobson

• Anonymous Sources: Leaks, Accountability and the First Amendment
  Bob Drogin, Walter Pincus, Kathleen Sullivan

2005

• Press Performance in the Post-9/11 Era
  Lance Bennett, James Fallows, Dana Priest, Philip Taubman
• Revealing, Disclosing, and Accounting
  Michael Schudson

2004

• Smart Mobs, The Virtual Community, & Tools for Thought
  Howard Rheingold
• Democracy and Communication
  John D. Peters

2003

• Online Discussion and Democracy
  Vincent Price
• The Language of War and the Ethics of Journalism
  Peter Sussman, Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Geoffrey Nunberg

2002

• The Future of News in the 21st Century
  Geneva Overholser, Thomas Patterson, Tom Rosenstiel
• Global News Coverage After Sept. 11
  Paul Steiger, Maud Beelman, Merrill Brown, Gloria Duffy

2001

• Journalism: Democracy's Friend or Foe?
  R.W. Apple, Jr.

2000

• The 2000 Presidential Election: What Really Happened?
  Samuel L. Popkin, Daron R. Shaw, Douglas Rivers
• Politics, Policy, and Reality
  Gwen Ifill

1999

• Media Meltdown
  Howard Kurtz

1998

• How the Media Undermine American Democracy
  James Fallows

1997

• The Decline of Civility in the U.S. Congress
  Kathleen Hall Jamieson

1996

• Media Mergers and the Public Interest
  David Lieberman

1994

• Why All the Media Bashing? Daniel Schorr

1993

• The Information Revolution
  David Gergen

1992

• What Happened on the Way to the Anita Hill Story Nina Totenberg

1991

• Nibbling at the First Amendment
  Tom Wicker

1990

• "The Image" Revisited
  Daniel Boorstin

1989

• The American Media After Gorbachev
  Robert Scheer

1988

• Our Revolutionary First Amendment
  Anthony Lewis

1987

• The Case for Public Service TV
  Jeremy Isaacs

1986

• The Television Environment: Cultivating the Wasteland
  Timothy E. Wirth

1985

• Lost Wisdom of Media Power and the Dangers of Mass Information
  Michael J. O'Neill

1984

• Preserving Freedom of the Press in a Revolutionary Setting
  Sr. Pedro Joaquin Chamorro B.

1983

• Absence of Malice
  Kurt Luedtke

1982

• The Limits of Journalism
  Meg Greenfield

1981

• The Light on Synanon
  David & Cathy Mitchell

1980

• Transatlantic Miscommunication
  Andrew Knight