Panel of journalists to discuss UNC, the Nikole Hannah-Jones controversy

Update: On Tuesday evening, after criticism of the all-white panel for this event, organizers announced the addition of Praveena Somasundaram, editor-in-chief of The Daily Tar Heel.

Below – the updated advertisement for the panel.

If you’ve been following Policy Watch’s ongoing coverage of the politicization of the UNC System and last year’s failed hiring of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones at UNC-Chapel Hill, you’ll want to mark your calendars for next Monday.

UNC-Chapel Hill is hosting a panel on the Nikole Hannah-Jones saga and the importance of journalism. The event, free and open to the public, will feature key journalists who covered and broke essential pieces of the story – including Kate Murphy and Ned Barnett of The News & Observer, John Drescher of The Assembly and NC Policy Watch‘s own Joe Killian. Brooks Fuller, director of the North Carolina Open Government Coalition, will also join the panel. Veteran journalist and UNC-Chapel Hill journalism instructor Adam Hochberg will moderate.

As Policy Watch has reported, the Hannah-Jones controversy has continued to impact the university – from new revelations about the university’s investigation into its own faculty and highly-sought job candidates rejecting overtures to prominent alumni declining to visit and speak on campus.

The event will be held April 25 at 5:45 p.m., on campus at 111 Carroll Hall. It can also be accessed remotely through Zoom here.