CNN’s LoMonte to give Future of the First Amendment Lecture at AU

(flyer courtesy of Morgan Hayes)

Staff report

Veteran legal counsel Frank LoMonte will give the Future of the First Amendment Lecture at Augusta University on Tuesday, March 14.

The lecture, sponsored by the Pamplin College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and the AU Libraries, will be at 6 p.m. in the JSAC Roscoe Williams Ballroom.

LoMonte, who is an attorney for CNN in Atlanta, will give a talk titled “Free Speech and Transparency on Campus: Lessons from the Pandemic.”

“We’re at a really precarious time for America’s information safety net,” LoMonte said. “Local newspapers are closing or hollowing-out their staffs through layoffs. Government agencies are getting more and more secretive, putting up barriers to keep journalists from getting interviews with the officials who have first-hand expertise.”

LoMonte said freedom of information is not just a concern for journalists.

“It’s really important for everyone invested in a well-functioning government—not just the few salaried journalists we have left—to take ownership of the right to be informed,” he said. “I want everyone to see the freedom of access to information as their own personal cause, not a cause that belongs to news reporters, because news reporters can’t win the battle against government secrecy alone.”

LoMonte has his JD from the University of Georgia Law School. His undergraduate degree is from Georgia State University. For a while, he was a journalist for Morris Media in Augusta. He also served as executive director of the Student Press Law Center from 2008 until 2017. Before coming to CNN, he was the director of the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information at the University of Florida.

Other sponsors are the AU Department of Communication, Bell Ringer-Phoenix Media, AU Student Chapter of SPJ and The Augusta Press newspaper.

The event is open to the public and free.

Contact the AU Department of Communication at communication@augusta.edu.