Experts in news-related law will present four workshops on important topics—libel, privacy, access to government and online legal issues – on Wednesday, October 23, in Martin Hall on WVU’s Downtown Campus.
The one-day training event is meant for anyone who works with news (broadcast, print or online) or plans to do so. Bloggers, tweeters and website operators are welcome. Workshop presenters include Robert Bastress Jr., the John W. Fisher II Professor of Law at WVU; Patrick McGinley, the Judge Charles H. Haden II Professor of Law at WVU; Sean McGinley, a member of DiTrapano Barrett DiPiero McGinley & Simmons, PLLC; and Ken Ward Jr., a reporter for The Charleston Gazette. (See bios below.)
Cost is minimal: $15 for all four workshops, including lunch and continental breakfast. WVU students and members of the West Virginia Press Association receive a $5 discount. The event is co-sponsored by the West Virginia Press Association, WVU College of Law and WVU P.I. Reed School of Journalism.
Download the flyer for more information or visit www.wvpress.org.Register early! Attendance is limited.
Workshop Presenters:
Robert M. Bastress Jr. is the John W. Fisher II Professor of Law at the West Virginia University College of Law, where he has taught since 1978. Bastress’s teaching and scholarly interests have concentrated on constitutional law, employment law and local government law. He is author of The West Virginia Constitution: A Reference Guide (Greenwood Press 1995), with a forthcoming second edition to be published by the Oxford University Press, along with numerous articles, course materials and presentations.
Patrick McGinley is the Judge Charles H. Haden II Professor of Law at West Virginia University. He is the co-author of the Open Government Guide: Access to Public Records and Meetings in West Virginia published by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. McGinley has served as a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists’ First Amendment Task Force, has taught courses in public access to government information and has litigated West Virginia FOIA cases on behalf of West Virginia newspapers and the Associated Press.
Sean McGinley is a member of DiTrapano Barrett DiPiero McGinley & Simmons, PLLC, regularly ranked as a Tier 1 Law Firm by U.S. News-Best Lawyers. For two decades he has represented journalists and media companies in First Amendment reporters’ privilege matters as well as in FOIA and defamation cases. He successfully has prosecuted many appeals before the Supreme Court of West Virginia. McGinley has received the highest peer rating given by Martindale-Hubbell, which provides peer reviews of lawyers for consumers and professionals. He regularly presents lectures to media organizations on First Amendment and defamation issues.
Ken Ward Jr., a reporter for The Charleston Gazette, is a native of Mineral County and a graduate of West Virginia University. Since starting at the Gazette in 1991, Ward, 45, has received numerous regional and national reporting awards for his coverage of strip mining, pulp mills, timbering and medical waste incinerators. He is a three-time winner of the Scripps Howard Foundation’s Edward Jr. Meeman Award for Environmental Reporting, received the prestigious Livingston Award for Young Journalists, and an Investigative Reporters and Editors medal.