The Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement's inaugural event was a program titled "Journalists and their Communities," held in conjunction with the Lovejoy Convocation. Three panel discussions held in Lovejoy 100 during the afternoon featured national and Maine journalists with faculty members as moderators. Among participating journalists were Rebecca [Littleton] Corbett '74, assistant managing editor of The Baltimore Sun and a member of the Lovejoy Selection Committee; J. Christian Davenport '95, a Washington Post reporter; Chris Morrill '81, vice president for multimedia at The Hartford Courant; and Matthew Storin, retired editor of The Boston Globe and chair of the Lovejoy Selection Committee.

Panelists and an audience including Maine journalists and students spent the afternoon discussing: "The Food Chain," examining career paths in journalism; "Descendants of Lovejoy," probing the difficulties and dangers in reporting news honestly; and "Media Agglomeration," examining the effects of the trend of large media companies acquiring newspapers large and small.

By inviting more than 100 editors and publishers from Maine newspapers, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Government L. Sandy Maisel, director of the Goldfarb Center, responded to the center's mission of building bridges between Colby and groups outside the College that are engaged in public affairs.