WHAT: Convocation, marking the beginning of the 2000-2001 academic year at the University of Oregon.

WHERE: Ballroom, Erb Memorial Union, 1222 E. 13th Ave.

NOTE: Space will be set aside for reporters covering Convocation at the front of the audience. Schorr will speak extemporaneously, so no text will be available. For other assistance, please check with John Crosiar of the Office of Communications, 346-3135, or on Oct. 10, 465-0349 (pager).

WHO: Keynote speaker Daniel Schorr, senior news analyst for National Public Radio.

BACKGROUND: Schorr will address this year’s Convocation in his speech, "Forgive Us Our Press Passes," in which he will talk about the negative views Americans have toward the news media and why he believes those views will never change. His address will follow the centuries-old traditional procession of faculty in their academic gowns and other regalia.

During his 50-year career in the media, Schorr has reported on numerous national and international events. His coverage of governmental controversies range from Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s hearings on communism in 1953 to the Clinton impeachment hearings in 1998 and 1999. He has witnessed superpower summits from the Eisenhower-Khrushchev meeting in Geneva in 1955 to the Reagan-Gorbachev conference in Moscow in 1988.

Schorr has received numerous professional awards, including three Emmys and a Peabody Award for a "lifetime of uncompromising reporting of the highest integrity." His most recent honor was the prestigious Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Golden Baton for "exceptional contributions to radio and television reporting and commentary." Schorr has been inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Society of Professional Journalists.

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