Scott Horton

Scott Horton, a blog columnist for Harpers.org and adjunct professor at Columbia Law School, will speak at the Shelby Center on the University of Alabama in Huntsville campus April 22 beginning at 7 p.m.

According to the press release by the North Alabama Media Reform group, Horton “pulls no punches in taking the major Alabama newspapers to task.”

The questions he is to address at the event, co-sponsored by the UAH Communication Arts Department; the UAH Political Science Department, the Humanities Division of Calhoun Community College and Alabama A and M University Political Science Department are:

1. What are the growing challenges to print media today?
2. What are the realistic challenges and opportunities with Internet publishing?

Horton will also discuss the political case of former Governor Don Siegelman, the dynamics of Alabama’s media coverage and how that dynamic is being “exploded” by the U.S. national press and the Internet.

Similar media-driven political prosecution stories exist in Alabama’s history, according to the group. Horton will discuss the case of Alabama’s Chief Justice Thomas W. Peters, of Moulton. In the 1870s and 80s, Peters was a promethean figure who advocated racial equality and civil rights – and who was destroyed by Bourbon political forces and the newspapers they controlled in a process that bears startling similarity to recent events. The more recent process of political prosecutions has involved Richmond Flowers, Guy Hunt and Fob James. Horton’s talk ultimately explores how these media problems reflect upon a mature democracy and the actions Alabama citizens can take.

Horton is a legal affairs contributor to Harper’s Magazine and an adjunct professor at Columbia Law School, where among other things he teaches a seminar training journalists in the coverage of legal matters. He also writes a column for the American Lawyer and has written for many other publications in the United States and abroad. He has worked as an advisor to CBS News and the Associated Press.

Horton’s interest in Alabama politics stems from his roots: his family is from Lawrence County, Alabama. A life-long human rights advocate, Horton is a well-known international practitioner. He recently led a number of studies on issues associated with the conduct of the war on terror for the New York City Bar Association, where he has chaired several committees including the Committee on International Law. Most recently, Horton has appeared on MSNBC, National Public Radio, Democracy Now! and other national programs to discuss the political prosecution of Alabama’s former Governor Don Siegelman.

For more information, see the Website for NorthAlabamaMediaReform.org.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 15th, 2008 at 10:44 pm and is filed under Don Siegelman on Trial. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.