Freedom of expression is an American citizen's First Amendment right. It is also the theme of this year's CCIM Week.
"Freedom of expression is at the heart of the communication discipline, of course, and has been since the beginning," said Scott Olson, Dean of the College of Communication, Information, and Media. "It is one of our most precious core values, and because it is so precious we need to remind ourselves frequently about what freedom means."
Dom Caristi's "Freedom of Speech in the 21st Century" seminar will be sponsoring the first of four panel discussions concerning First Amendment issues. The panel will begin at 7 p.m. today in the Alumni Center.
The seminar is through the Virginia Ball Center and the 13 students involved have named themselves Soapbox Productions.
The panels will be video-taped, edited and shown on WIPB-TV sometime in June, according to Caristi, associate professor of telecommunications. The taped panels will also be distributed to educators discussing free expression issues.
Each panel will feature six local and national experts. The program will begin with a video clip of a hypothetical situation. The panelists will then have about 60 minutes to discuss the issue followed by a question-and-answer period from the audience.
The discussion will feature Tom Gjelten, national security correspondent for National Public Radio.
"Students will really want to hear Tom Gjelten," Olson said. "He is absolutely fascinating, both as an NPR correspondent and for covering a brave little newspaper in Yugoslavia that continued to publish even after its building had been destroyed."
Gjelten is also going to speak at 3 p.m. Tuesday in Art and Journalism Building Room 175 as part of the Department of Journalism's Professional-In-Residence series.
Soapbox Productions is also hosting a soapbox at the Scramble Light from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. every day this week. The soapbox mimics Speaker's Corner, an outdoor forum in London's Hyde Park.
"We want people to have fun with it," said junior Ada Anderson, member of Soapbox Productions. "If you have something to say, get up and say it."
The week features many other speakers and events, each promoting freedom of expression.
"We hope to get students talking about the freedoms we have and maybe even a few we don't have," Olson said.
Journalism instructor Larry Riley said most students have lived in an environment where media have so much freedom that living without a First Amendment is unimaginable.
"Obviously journalists in this country are protected mightily by the First Amendment," Riley said. "Just this week in Zimbabwe, a British journalist was arrested because of harsh laws passed during the recent campaign that made illegal any criticism of the president. Similar incidents around the globe are happening every week. At least in the United States, the numbers are small."
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