By Stephen Collins '74

Bill Kovach, recipient of the 2000 Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award.

Bill Kovach, "the conscience of American journalism," "a newsroom hero" and "a pope of the press," according to recent headlines, will receive the Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award at Colby on Thursday, November 9.

Kovach rose from very modest family circumstances to editorial positions at The New York Times, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Washington Post before leading the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University for 11 years. He currently is chairman of the Committee of Concerned Journalists.

He quit his first job as a reporter, at the Johnson City (Tenn.) Press-Chronicle, when his editors wouldn't let him cover civil rights, and he resigned from his last job as a newspaper editor, at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, after clashing with management over how aggressive and crusading the newspaper would be.

Kovach will receive an honorary degree and will speak at 8 p.m. in Lorimer Chapel on November 9, the 198th anniversary of Lovejoy's birth and the 163rd anniversary of his funeral.

Lovejoy, valedictorian of Colby's Class of 1826, became America's first martyr to freedom of the press when he was killed defending his presses against a pro-slavery mob he had angered with his anti-slavery writings. Since 1952 Colby has honored his memory by presenting the Lovejoy Award to a newspaper writer, editor or publisher who has contributed to the nation's journalistic achievement.