Alumnus, Pulitzer winner speaking Oct. 5

John Sullivan ’93, who was on a team that won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service reporting, will speak at Cornell College at 3:15 p.m. on Oct. 5 in the Hedges Conference Room in the Thomas Commons.

Sullivan, who majored in philosophy and politics, worked for newspapers, including the Philadelphia Inquirer, until joining the faculty at the Medill Journalism School at Northwestern University earlier this year.

In a talk entitled “Public Service Journalism in a Declining Media Landscape: A new model for producing investigative reporting, ” Sullivan will talk about the enormous investment newspapers make to produce stories such as “Assault on Learning,” the Philadelphia Inquirer series that won the Pulitzer Prize this year in the public service category, and how institutions such as Medill at Northwestern are exploring new models to hold government officials accountable.

The lecture will include a discussion of what’s involved in reporting, and writing the most ambitious stories, especially at a time when newspapers are increasingly succumbing to a failing financial model.

In addition to Cornell, Sullivan attended the University of Missouri for graduate school.