McGaughey Lecture on Press Freedom and Responsibility returns to Lovett Auditorium on Sept. 19

MURRAY, Ky. – The McGaughey Lecture on Press Freedom and Responsibility will bring noted KET Public Affairs Director Renee Shaw to the stage of Lovett Auditorium on Murray State’s campus on Sept. 19 at 7:30 p.m. 

“We are very pleased that during Constitution week, award winning public affairs journalist Renee Shaw will speak about the role of the press as provided in the First Amendment,” said Kevin Qualls, chair of Murray State’s department of Journalism and Mass Communication. 

Shaw will be the second McGaughey Lecturer. Political cartoonist Marc Murphy of Louisville began the series in Feb. 2023. 

Renee Shaw is well known to media and political audiences in Kentucky.  A veteran political reporter with 30 years of experience, her leadership in producing KET’s legislative coverage has been recognized by the Kentucky Associated Press and the National Educational Telecommunications Association. 

“As Doc McGaughey always taught, press freedom comes with press responsibility. And that responsibility includes providing truthful, accurate and fair news reporting necessary for an informed electorate. KET’s Renee Shaw has proven adept at covering important public affair issues in an era when truth, accuracy and fairness are too often in question,” said Qualls. “We’re fortunate to have Renee Shaw as our McGaughey lecturer, especially during this election year.”

The event was created by the McGaughey Fund for Excellence in Journalism and Mass Communication which was established in 2020 through a generous bequest from the late Robert H. “Doc” McGaughey. 

“Doc McGaughey was a devout believer in press freedom,” said long-time colleague Robert Valentine. “He was equally devoted to the concept of press responsibility to public service. As a leader of the faculty at Murray State University, he devoted his life to those principles in teaching and in practice.”

McGaughey began his career at Murray State following an active undergraduate career in media and military service in Vietnam. He returned to be advisor to the MSU News and, after a brief absence to earn his doctorate in journalism at Ohio University, joined the faculty. In 1974 he became chairman of the newly-formed Department of Journalism and Radio/TV. 

“When Doc was inducted into the Kentucky Press Hall of Fame, he laid out the problems that would afflict our society if free speech was pursued without the ethic of responsibility,” said Valentine. “He was among the first scholars to articulate the problems that we now know as fake news, bias reporting and outright propaganda.” 

“It is among the greatest challenges we face today,” said Qualls. The lecture is intended to be an annual effort to encourage both dissent and responsibility. 

The lecture is free to the public. 

For more information please contact Murray State University’s Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at 270-809-2387.