Christiane Amanpour Lecture features reporter Ed Yong
This year’s Amanpour lecturer, Ed Yong, gives a TED talk. Photo from delewarepublic.org.
Ed Yong, a science journalist for The Atlantic, will be this year’s keynote speaker at the University of Rhode Island’s annual Christiane Amanpour Lecture.
The goal of the lecture series every year is to engage students, faculty and the greater community in important and relevant topics in journalism, according to Interim Director of the Harrington School of Communication and Media Norbert Mundorf. The lecture series is named after URI alumna and CNN Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour. Amanpour spoke at last year’s event.
This year’s lecture, held virtually on Oct. 29 at 5 p.m., is titled “COVID-19: Science reporting in a global pandemic” as the United States and the world struggle to control the coronavirus.
Yong’s work has been published in multiple magazines, including National Geographic, the New Yorker and Scientific American.
In 2018, Yong wrote an article titled “Is America Ready for a Global Pandemic?” in which he discussed what would happen if a pandemic did strike America. Since then, he has been on the forefront of COVID-19 journalism, trying to educate people on the dangers of the virus. Yong has written a variety of articles about COVID-19’s effects on America, one titled “America is Trapped in a Pandemic Spiral,” which discusses what the nation could have done and can do differently to stop the spread.
“Because of the currency of what he is doing, Christiane [Amanpour] thought he would be very relevant for students,” Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Jen Riley said.
The coronavirus pandemic, the reason for the lecture’s move to a virtual platform, will be the main focus of the event.
“We are trying to promote scientific communication, and Ed Yong is a prime example of that,” Mundorf said. “My primary role in [the] lecture is to make sure it aligns with the values of the Harrington School, which is to communicate with people, and science communication during this time [that] is extremely important so people can know complex facts.”
The lecture will be around an hour long, starting with a short introduction video from Amanpour herself. Yong will speak for around 20 to 30 minutes. Following this, there will be a 10 to 15 minute Q-and-A session with URI faculty and experts, transitioning to another Q-and-A with students and the general audience.
The Harrington School will be using a platform called StreamYard to stream the lecture to various sites where people can watch on, as well as bring in videos and create a live chat for the audience to interact.
“We are going to try to communicate science issues to the general public so people can know what is going on in the world,” Riley said.
For this lecture, the University is expecting a large turnout. In previous years, attendance to the Amanpour lectures has been over 1,000 people, according to Riley. Over the summer, the University virtually held the three-part Taricani Lecture Series on First Amendment Rights, and each event had over 1,300 people in attendance. Riley said she expects a similar turnout for this event.
The lecture series is extremely important to the Harrington School; Mundorf is proud of the series.
“It’s one of those things that brings us together,” Mundorf said. “It’s a tool that we use to help build community.”
According to Mundorf, the goal is to bring together all the different programs in the Harrington School. Each of the majors in Harrington School are unique in their own disciplines, and Mundorf views the lecture series as a way to promote commonality between the majors.
“It is an interdisciplinary thing, not just for journalism,” said Mundorf.
The lecture series is also important to URI as a whole. Every person in the community has an individual pathway, and the lecture series brings together different people from different departments and majors to learn about current events.
“It’s for everyone who wants to learn about contemporary issues,” Riley said. “Our primary mission is to educate students, inside and outside the classroom. We provide these events for students and larger communities for an on-going learning opportunity to enrich campus life.”
To register, visit the Harrington School’s website or search on URI’s home page “Amanpour 2020 lecture.” The event is free, but spots need to be reserved.