VCU to host Hurricane Katrina media panel

By Mike Porter

RICHMOND, Va. (Jan. 23, 2006) – Virginia Commonwealth University will host a panel of media professionals to share experiences and perspectives of covering Hurricane Katrina. 

Robert D. Holsworth, Ph.D., interim dean of VCU’s College of Humanities and Sciences and director of the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, will moderate the discussion “Hurricane Katrina and the Media: Looking Backward, Moving Forward.” The panel is part of Richmond’s annual “Living the Dream” commemoration of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Hurricane Katrina and the Media: Looking Backward, Moving Forward” will be held on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2006 at 7:00 p.m. at the W.E. Singleton Center for the Performing Arts. The event is open to the public and free of charge. Members of the audience are invited to share their own perspectives of Hurricane Katrina and the ensuing media coverage.

Panelists include:

Aaron Gilchrist, morning and noon co-anchor and reporter for WWBT-TV in Richmond. Gilchrist is president of the Richmond Black Media Professionals, the local chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists. He spent several days on the Gulf Coast reporting on Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Gordon Hickey, special projects editor for the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Hickey has both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in creative writing from the University of Wisconsin. He edited stories filed from the Gulf region after the hurricane. Hickey has been a reporter and editor for more than 25 years.

Eva Russo, a staff photographer for the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Russo is a graduate of Syracuse University with a degree in photojournalism. She spent several days in the Gulf Coast photographing the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Will Sutton, visiting professor from Hampton University’s Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications. Sutton served as deputy managing editor at the News and Observer in Raleigh, N.C., where he increased the number of journalists of color from 11 percent to 20 percent. He has covered several disasters, including Hurricane Floyd in 1999. Sutton was raised in the Lower Ninth Ward and Gentilly neighborhoods in New Orleans.

“The panel offers us an opportunity to discuss what kind of ‘wake-up’ call Hurricane Katrina is for our own community and its most vulnerable citizens,” said Catherine W. Howard, Ph.D., director of the Office of Community Programs and associate professor of psychology. “It will help young people remain aware that Dr. King’s life and teachings are relevant today.”

The media panel is sponsored by the Office of Community Programs, the VCU School of Mass Communications, the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs, the VCU Honors Program, the L. Douglas Wilder School for Government and Public Affairs, the VCU School of World Studies, VCU Libraries, and the VCU College of Humanities and Sciences. The Richmond Times-Dispatch is serving as media sponsor.