The Alaska World Affairs Council Presents

Patrick Yack
Atwood Chair of Journalism
Department of Journalism and Public Communications
University of Alaska, Anchorage

"Who's Watching the World?
The Collapse of Foreign Journalism in the American Press."

“Program supported by the Atwood Foundation”

Friday, 9th April 2009 – Hilton Hotel
Doors open at 11:30 a.m. - Program begins at 12:00 p.m.
For Reservations
RSVP by Wednesday, 7th of April to the Alaska World Affairs Council
by telephone 276-8038 or by email to AlaskaWorldAffairs.org .
Lunch Program $20 for Members - $25 for Non-Members - $6 for Coffee Only

Patrick Yack is a veteran journalist, who has had a distinguished career as a reporter, editor and new media strategist. He is currently the Atwood Chair of Journalism in the Department of Journalism and Public Communications at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Mr. Yack is a nationally recognized leader on open government and First Amendment issues.

Mr. Yack has reported from South Korea, the Soviet Union and Honduras. He is a member of the Committee to Protect Journalists, organization founded to promote press freedom and protect the rights of journalists. He was a co-founder of Sunshine Sunday, Florida's initiative to promote open government and he advised and counseled Mexican journalists who launched Mexico Abierto, an open government campaign in Mexico. Mr. Yack has covered Congress, legislatures, the US Navy, the 1984 presidential campaign, professional and college sports, and major regional and national news stories. Mr. Yack's assignments have included:

- DC Bureau Chief, The Denver Post
- National Editor, Atlanta Constitution
- Managing Editor, The (Eugene, Ore.) Register-Guard
- Editor, The Florida Times-Union

He is the former president of the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors and is the former co-chair of the American Society of Newspaper Editors’ FOI Committee, which has taken the lead national role in supporting a federal shield law, defending reporters' rights and promoting greater access to government records. Mr. Yack has served as a Pulitzer Prize juror.

His wife, Suzanne, is the former editor of the Juneau Empire. She is program officer at the Alaska Community Foundation.