Contact: John Keeley
(202) 466-8185
jmk@cis.org

How is the Media's Immigration Coverage?
Panel Discussion & Award to Former Washington Times Writer

WASHINGTON (May 16, 2002) — Has the coverage of immigration by the news media been satisfactory? Once an academic question, the events of September 11 made this a matter of life and death. Foreign-born radical Muslim terrorists have exploited every component of America's immigration system to penetrate our society.  And even without the terrorist threat, the past decade saw the greatest wave of immigration in our history, changing our nation in myriad ways.

The Center for Immigration Studies is taking the opportunity of this year's Eugene Katz Award for Excellence in the Coverage of Immigration to examine this issue. The Center will convene a panel of experts for a luncheon discussion on Friday, May 31, at noon at the National Press Club, 14th & F streets, 13th floor, in the First Amendment Room. The event will feature the following speakers:

• William McGowan, author of "Coloring the News: How Crusading for Diversity Has Corrupted American Journalism" (Encounter Books, 2001)
   

• Joe Guzzardi, a California columnist and director of the Media Standards Projects for NumbersUSA.com
   

• August Gribbin, recently retired from the Washington Times and winner of the 2002 Eugene Katz Award for Excellence in the Coverage of Immigration.

The luncheon is free and open to the public. To RSVP, call the Center at (202) 466-8185.

The purpose of the Katz Award, started in 1997, is to promote informed and fair reporting on this contentious and complicated issue.

See past winners at http://www.cis.org/articles/Katz/katzintro.html.

Eugene Katz began his career as a reporter at The Daily Oklahoman. In 1928, he joined the family business, working as an advertising salesman for the Katz Agency, and in 1952 became president of Katz Communciations, a half-billion-dollar firm which dealt in radio and television advertising and also owned and managed radio stations. Mr. Katz was a member of the Center for Immigration Studies board until shortly after his 90th birthday in 1997. He passed away in 2000.

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The Center for Immigration Studies is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan research institute which examines and critiques the impact of immigration on the United States. It is animated by a pro-immigrant/low-immigration vision, but offers the Katz Award not to promote a certain point of view but to foster informed decision-making on an issue central to America's future.