ACROSS THE GENERATIONS: LEGACIES OF HOPE AND MEANING

The international conference will be held September 11-13, 2009 at Fordham University in New York. The Institute of General Semantics is sponsoring the event and is currently accepting paper and proposal submissions. Co-sponsors for the event include the New York Society for General Semantics, Media Ecology Association, Friends of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, Lifwynn Foundation for Social Reserach and Fordham University. The conference will feature the 57th Annual Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture to be delivered by Mary Catherine Bateson, "The Changing Shapes of Lives: Making Meaning Across Time."

*Papers, proposals, and inquiries may be sent by July 15 to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or contact Lance Strate, IGS executive director, c/o Department of Communication and Media Studies, Fordham University, Bronx, NY 10458. Phone: 718.817.4864 Fax: 718.817.4868

GEORGE GERBNER FILMS AVAILABLE

The Media Education Foundation is currently selling copies of three films by George Gerbner, whose ongoing studies examined television content and its effect on Americans. The films include The Electronic Storyteller, The Killing Screens and The Crisis of the Cultural Environment for $35 each.

*For more information, Web site:http://www.mediaed.org/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?display=home

LIBERTY TREE INITIATIVE

A $100,000 grant from the McCormick Foundation is designed to build awareness of the five freedoms of the First Amendment by provoking programs and speakers on campuses, nationwide. The Initiative was founded by a partnership of the American Society of Newspaper Editors and several foundations (the Knight Foundation, the McCormick Foundation, and the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University).

*Colleges and universities interested in applying for a $5,000 grant can learn more about the program by contacting Sandra Chance at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; Telephone: 352.392.2273.

THE FUTURE OF ETHICAL JOURNALISM

A new Center for Journalism Ethics was established in December 2008 in the School of Journalism & Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Under the direction of Stephen J. A. Ward, James R. Burgess Professor of Journalism Ethics, the new Center plans to hold an annual conference dealing with communication ethics.

The announcement of the first such conference, called "The Future of Ethical Journalism" and held April 30-May 1, 2009, was received too late to publicize in these pages-but, since similar conferences are expected to be held annually, MEDIA ETHICS believes that mention of the 2009 conference will serve as a "heads-up" for the 2010 conference.

*Director Ward, who taught journalism ethics on the faculty of the University of British Columbia before he joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison, may be reached by e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and a Web site may be accessed at http://www.journalismethics.info.