The Children of Ethiopia: From the Cradle to the Grave
The Student Life section of Utah State Today highlights work written by the talented student journalists at Utah State University. Each week, the editor selects a story that has been published in The Utah Statesman or the Hard News Café or both for inclusion in Utah State Today.
The Children of Ethiopia: From the Cradle to the Grave
From the Hard News Café, Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Two Utah journalists launch the 2011-2012 Morris Media & Society Lecture season at Utah State [University] next week to report on what they found when they traveled to Ethiopia this summer to investigate the plight of children in that impoverished and drought-stricken east African nation.
Matthew LaPlante, former national security reporter for The Salt Lake Tribune who is now an assistant journalism professor at USU, and Tribune photojournalist Rick Egan will present their findings in a powerful Morris lecture, The Children of Ethiopia: From the Cradle to the Grave.
The event is Tuesday, Oct. 4, 1:30-2:45 p.m. in the Taggart Student Center Auditorium on the USU campus. The lecture is free and the public is invited to attend.
“This presentation is in the best traditions of journalism,” said JCOM department head Ted Pease. “Journalists and photojournalists go where the stories are, they put themselves at risk — or at least discomfort — to bring back stories about lands and peoples far away.
“Ethiopia is a long way from Utah — both geographically and attitudinally for most of us. But just because the suffering is far away doesn’t mean it’s not happening,” Pease said. “LaPlante and Egan found sadness, privation, infanticide and ultimately, hope. These are stories that we all need to hear.”
The John W. Morris Family Media & Society Lectures, founded in 1995 by the USU Department of Journalism & Communication, brings media professionals and scholars to campus to talk about current issues and practices in journalism and mass communication.
New JCOM professor Matthew LaPlante traveled last summer with photojournalist Rick Egan to document the plight of children in drought-stricken Ethiopia. (Cassidee Cline photo)
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