ABOUT THE PETER JENNINGS PROJECT
The Peter Jennings Project for Journalists and the Constitution is an annual event hosted by the National Constitution Center and funded initially by the Annenberg Foundation. Its mission is to help both professional journalists and students interested in journalism understand constitutional issues more deeply. Through that discovery, the Project participants and, in turn, those who are touched by their work, will see that the constitutional discussion is not limited to the domain of the court system, academic exchange, and the introductory experience of high school civics classes. Instead, constitutionalism reaches into the fabric of daily life and therefore affects so much of what journalists write, broadcast, edit, and produce.
The Project debuted at the National Constitution Center in March 2007 with the theme, “The Constitution in our Midst.” The inaugural conference featured events such as case studies examining both current constitutional issues and constitutional issues of the future, a debate between prominent members of Congress, and an off the record conversation with former Supreme Court law clerks.
The 2008 conference addressed issues of race and gender with renowned lawyers, esteemed women jurists and scholars including Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Charles Ogletree and Kathleen Sullivan. The third annual Peter Jennings Project for Journalists and the Constitution is scheduled for February 27-March 1, 2009 at the National Constitution Center. Given the financial constraints in many news organizations and school districts, the National Constitution Center is committed to paying the expenses of all participants. In return, each Jennings Fellow is asked to commit to writing, editing, broadcasting or publishing a story, column or series of stories based on what he or she learned in Philadelphia.
The students who attended the first Jennings Project in 2007 were chosen from Pennsylvania high schools in partnership with PennCORD, the Pennsylvania Coalition for Representative Democracy. Those students have been tasked with organizing and leading a discussion on press freedoms at the major PennCORD convention later this year.
The Peter Jennings Project is supervised by Stefan Frank, Director of National Programs at the National Constitution Center, with help from Todd Brewster, Peter Jennings' longtime friend and collaborator. The Project is being developed with Kayce Freed Jennings, wife of the late journalist, so that it reflects his values, character and passion for learning.
The Project is also shaped by a group of twelve national leaders in journalism and constitutional law who serve on its Board of Advisors. They are Guido Calabresi, Geoffrey Cowan, John C. Danforth, Jane Eisner, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Alberto Ibarguen, Kayce Freed Jennings, Elena Kagan, Judith Kaye, Ted Koppel, John Lewis, Richard Stengel, and David Westin.
