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Legal Reporting Professor to Give Speech at Journalism Ethics Institute

Toni Locy, Reynolds Professor of Legal Reporting at Washington and Lee University, will deliver the keynote address at Washington and Lee University’s 47th Institute on Journalism Ethics on Friday, March 6, at 5:30 p.m. in the Stackhouse Theater, Elrod Commons.

The title of Locy’s speech is “Committing Journalism: Contempt for Reporters in Post-9/11 America.” The event is free and open to the public.

Last year Locy received three awards including the John Aubuchon Freedom of the Press Award from the National Press Club and the First Amendment Award from the Society of Professional Journalists for defying a federal district judge’s order to reveal the names of confidential sources for stories when she was covering the Justice Department for USA Today in 2001 and 2002. The stories in question were about the 2001 anthrax attacks, which killed five people. Unidentified sources had told several reporters, including Locy, that former Army scientist Steven Hatfill was a possible suspect. A federal appeals court has vacated the contempt order against Locy.

In addition to her five years at USA Today, Locy has covered the Supreme Court and legal affairs for the Associated Press, federal courts for The Washington Post, criminal justice for The Philadelphia Daily and federal courts for The Pittsburgh Press. She has also worked for The Boston Globe and U.S. News & World Report. She received a master’s degree in the studies of law from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

Locy joined W&L’s faculty in the journalism and mass communications department in 2008 as its first Donald W. Reynolds Professor of Legal Reporting.

The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation is a national philanthropic organization founded in 1954 by the late media entrepreneur for whom it is named. Headquartered in Las Vegas, Nev., it is one of the largest private foundations in the United States.