…But You Didn’t Hear It From Me.
MISSOULA – An editor with deep experience in investigative journalism will discuss the role of confidential sources and leaks in an upcoming lecture at the University of Montana.
Cheryl Carpenter, who teaches in UM’s School of Journalism this semester as the T. Anthony Pollner Distinguished Professor, will present, “Confidential Sources: Can Journalism Live Without Them?” at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 16, in the University Center Theater. The 2017 Pollner Lecture is free and open to the public.
After serving as managing editor of the Charlotte Observer in North Carolina for 10 years, Carpenter became McClatchy’s Washington, D.C., bureau chief in 2015. McClatchy owns news organizations in every sector of the country, including the Miami Herald, Kansas City Star, Sacramento Bee, Tacoma News-Tribune and Idaho Statesman.
Carpenter has overseen many investigations, most recently examining the Panama Papers, a massive leaked database that showed thousands of offshore investors were engaged in fraud, tax evasion and avoidance of international sanctions.
As Pollner Professor in the School of Journalism, Carpenter teaches a course on the ethical and practical issues reporters face, particularly when dealing with leaked documents.
Carpenter holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a master’s degree in organizational development from Queens University in Charlotte. She also was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University in 2005, studying ethics and leadership.
The School of Journalism created the Pollner professorship in 2001 in memory of T. Anthony Pollner, a UM journalism alumnus who died two years after graduating. The Pollner endowment allows the school to bring a distinguished journalist to campus for a full semester to teach a course and to mentor students at the Montana Kaimin newspaper.