The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications will hold a symposium Feb. 23 to discuss the media’s handling of the Bernie Fine and Pennsylvania State University cases.

The event, ‘When Games Turn Grim: Can media cover sports scandals responsibly?’ will feature four panels focusing on a different aspect of the case.

Due to the complexity of the case, Steve Davis, chair of newspaper and online journalism at Newhouse, wanted to organize a symposium in hopes students could learn from the decisions made by the media.

‘There are all sorts of ethical issues at play here, and people have been talking about it in Newhouse and in class,’ he said.

The symposium, held in the Hergenhan Auditorium, will begin in the late morning with a panel on the media. Scheduled panelists include a vice president from ESPN, head editors from The Post-Standard and The Patriot-News in Pennsylvania, and Pete Thamel of The New York Times. After a break, Davis said, the last three panels will focus on advocates for accusers and victims, public relations and ethics from 1-5 p.m.

Former Newhouse Dean David Rubin will participate in the ethics panel, which will discuss how much evidence a newspaper needs to charge someone of child molestation; how a newspaper challenges a highly regarded official, such as Joe Paterno or Jim Boeheim; and what The Post-Standard should have done with the Laurie Fine tape.

The symposium will be streamed live in Food.com and also available on the Newhouse website. Although the event is free and open to the public, Davis said it was created with journalism students in mind.

‘It’s really complex and interesting,’ Davis said. ‘This would mainly appeal to journalists because it is not a replay of the allegations, but a critical look at how the situation was handled.’

egsawyer@syr.edu

Published on January 24, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Liz: egsawyer@syr.edu | @3sawyer