Zenger Award Luncheon - Introductory Remarks by UA Journalism Department Head Jacqueline Sharkey -
Sept. 22, 2007

Good afternoon. On behalf of the students, staff and the faculty of the journalism department, I'm very pleased to welcome all of you to the presentation of the 2007 John Peter and Anna Catherine Zenger Award, which honors people who have made extraordinary contributions to freedom of the press and the public's right to know.

The Zenger Award is named for two 18th century newspaper publishers in the British colony of New York, whose courage and work helped lay the groundwork for the First Amendment, and the freedom of the press to tell the truth about the government.

It is a great pleasure -- and a privilege -- to be here to present the 2007 award to Jerry Mitchell, an investigative reporter with the Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Mississippi.

We are very pleased two members of his family could be here today -- his spouse, Karen, and his son Sam. Each of us knows how important the support of our families is to our work as journalists, and we're very happy that they could come to this event, which celebrates the courage and the work of Mr. Mitchell.

Mr. Mitchell's work includes extraordinary contributions not only to journalism, but to history. His determination to uncover the truth about unsolved murders during the civil rights era so far has helped put five members of the Ku Klux Klan in prison. It has helped inspire authorities in seven states to re-examine dozens of killings, and these investigations have led to 29 arrests and 23 convictions. The U.S. Justice Department is now re-examining more than 100 deaths from that era.

Mr. Mitchell has won numerous honors. He has won the Society of Professional Journalists Public Service Award, the Sidney Hillman Award, and the National Association of Black Journalists' Award for Enterprise Reporting. He was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

He has been profiled by The New York Times, American Journalism Review, ABC's Nightline, and has appeared as an expert on all the major networks, the Lehrer News Hour, NPR and other news media around the country. He was portrayed in the film Ghosts of Mississippi, featured in a Learning Channel documentary -- Civil Rights Martyrs -- and was a consultant for a Discovery Channel documentary, Killed by the Klan.

Another crucial element of Mr. Mitchell's work is that it has -- quite literally -- changed history. We've all heard the phrase, journalism is the first draft of history. Well, Mr. Mitchell's is the second draft -- a draft that corrects the errors and omissions of the first. One phrase that has been coined to describe his work is "investigative history."

Mr. Mitchell's reporting exemplifies the idea that the role of the journalist is to tell the public the truth about our government, and our society, no matter how painful that truth might be, no matter what it compels us to do as we re-examine our history.

And his work illustrates another role that journalists have: to report on issues and events in ways that compel us to think critically about our culture's values -- where they come from, what they mean, what impact they have. Mr. Mitchell's work has contributed enormously to the national dialogue about racism in this country. At a time when the case of the Jena 6 in Louisiana is near the top of the news agendas for many news media today, the need to continue to explore the attitudes and actions that result from racism in our country is painfully evident.

And so is the need to continue to examine the role that the press itself plays in reflecting and influencing the values that shape our society. It is very important to note that one of the stories Mr. Mitchell's work helped uncover was the role that his own newspaper had played in supporting the work of the racist organizations and politicians in Mississippi.

In the course of his work, Mr. Mitchell has been described in many ways. He has been called a "pain in the ass" and a "white traitor." He also has been called a crusader. Perhaps the most appropriate description for us today is the one provided by New York Times journalist David Halberstam. He called Mr. Mitchell a hero, "the most distinguished reporter in the entire country ... a reflection of what one reporter with a conscience can do."

For all these reasons it is truly an honor today to present Mr. Mitchell with the 2007 John Peter and Anna Catherine Zenger Award.