Scuppernong Books, in collaboration with PEN America and Greensboro Bound, will present a multi-part series, Writers as Witness, in the Fall of 2019. This series will explore the impact of local journalism in our community, freedom of expression during time of rising hate speech, and the role played by writers of all genres in documenting this moment in America.  The series launches on September 18th at Scuppernong Books with a discussion between local newspaper and radio reporters.  

Traditional journalism is under attack across the country. Economic forces are closing more and more print and digital new sources, while non-news sources proliferate. Political figures regularly decry established news sources as ‘fake news’ and call out individual reporters. Cancel culture threatens to limit discussion of sensitive topics. In fact, the very concept of traditional journalism is shifting rapidly, morphing to a new media landscape. 

How is journalism done and how does it affect our community and our country. What are our responsibilities as media consumers? What is unbiased journalism? What are the limits of free speech? What are the current threats (economic, cultural, and political) to free expression in the US?

The Writers as Witness series seeks to explore the ways in which writers—be they journalists, poets, memoirists, or fiction writers—engage and elaborate our current cultural moment in America.  

[press release from Scuppernong Books]