The Indiana Publisher

Editorial Board Star-Tribune (Terre Haute) The April 2 inaugural Jamal Khashoggi Annual Address on Journalism and the Media featured Khashoggi's friend and Washing- ton Post colleague — David Ignatius. The event drew a healthy audience to Tilson Auditorium. The crowd heard Ignatius share his insights on both Khashoggi's life and the global politics that inspired the fallen Post columnist's career. Ignatius joked about the title of his speech, "How to Fix the World," yet actually delivered some thought-provoking ideas to do just that. Most important, the forum spotlighted a pillar of democracy, an occupation specifically protected in the Constitution's First Amendment — the free press. Ignatius did not cheer lead for his vocation. Instead, he looked at the state of the free press in America and beyond with the critical eye of a seasoned journal- ist. He has covered the Middle East and international affairs since 1980, often amid war and conflict, and today serves as the Post's foreign affairs columnist. The freedom to write the truth about such harsh, tragic situations was among Ignatius' examples of ways to "fix the world." That view of journalism's power to change injustice and oppression is something Ignatius and Khashoggi had in common. Khashoggi became a journalist after studying business at ISU from 1977 to 1982 and receiving his bachelor's degree in May 1983. A native of Saudi Arabia, his passion was to see that country and the Arab world transformed. After supporting radical tactics to bring such change, Khashoggi decided journalism and the truth was the best method to end corruption and to reform governments. Khashoggi showed courage in challenging the ruling royal family and religious establishment in Saudi Arabia through his columns in the Arab press and then with the Post, once that iconic D.C. newspaper hired him as a global politics columnist in 2017. Khashoggi knew his frank reporting on the kingdom could endanger his life. Yet he continued writing. "He was not a man who could suppress what he believed was true," Ignatius said. Khashoggi died in an apparent assassination, carried out by a 15-man Saudi strike team on Oct. 2, 2018, inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Khashoggi had traveled there to pick up paper- work necessary to marry his Turkish fiancee. The CIA conclud- ed the attack was directed by the same Saudi officials Khashoggi had both criticized and praised in his columns. Ignatius said of ISU's initiation of an annual address on journalism, "I can't think of a better way to honor [Jamal]." Indeed, the program has the potential to attract national attention to the dangers journalists face worldwide, the state of the free press in the U.S. and elsewhere, and the future of journalism. It would be wonderful to see the event perpetuated, perhaps through a private endowment. (Maybe from Khashoggi's former employer, the Post?) In doing so, ISU could also highlight its own journalism program — one that has produced many talented reporters, photogra- phers, columnists and editors, as well as a Pulitizer Prize winner. Khashoggi, no doubt, would be impressed to see such a focus on the career he chose following his time in Terre Haute. Page 10 April 2019 That in turn benefits the public, Nelson said. Otherwise, information that would be of a benefit to the general public would be withheld if the press resists reporting on an issue of public concern for fear of receiving a summons. An example of such a case was heard before the Indiana Court of Appeals last month in Kevin Pack v. Truth Publishing Company, Inc., and John S. Dille, III, 18A-PL- 01742. There, a former teacher at Northridge High School in Middlebury alleged The Elkhart Truth defamed him in an article it wrote concerning a federal suit Pack had filed against the school for firing him. Pack argued the journalist who wrote the article defamed him by referring to Pack's "incompetence" as a reason for his termination, while contending the case was not a public matter, and that the journalist did not properly report the facts. "Reporters are not in Kansas anymore," Pack's attorney James Ayers told Indiana Lawyer. "They are knowingly seeking viral attention, and someone should see that there are consequences for damage done by malicious (knowingly incorrect) or patently incompetent reporting." However, the defendant maintained the opposite in arguing that the article was published in furtherance of free speech on an issue of public interest and that the case had been correctly dismissed under Indiana's Anti-SLAPP Act. Unlike the assertions made in Pack, Byron said in his more than 55 years of practice, he's never seen a reporter print a story while entertaining a serious doubt about the truth. "I would say it's exceedingly rare that someone would actually, intentionally, or with reckless disregard commit actual malice," he said. Byron pointed out that America's libel laws are favorable to the press, which reduces the already-slim likelihood that Sullivan will be reconsidered in the future. Even if they were to be reconsidered, anti-SLAPP statutes would also support free speech. "There is no other country that is as strongly supportive of free press as this country," he said. ISU lecture in Khashoggi's honor appropriate way to recognize journalism's importance, dangers He was more than a colleague, he was a friend: Washington Post foreign affairs columnist David Ignatius recalls the conversations he had with the late Jamal Khashoggi during a press conference for Ignatius on April on the Indiana State University campus. Photo by Joseph C. Garza/Tribune-Star. Libel Continued from Page 9

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