Roosevelt House is pleased to present The 2020 Jack Newfield Lecture — Celebrating the publication of Wayne Barrett’s “Without Compromise: The Brave Journalism that First Exposed Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and the American Epidemic of Corruption” by the late, great investigative journalist Wayne Barrett, Inaugural Jack Newfield Lecturer at Hunter College
Welcoming Remarks by Hunter College President Jennifer J. Raab
Special Remarks by Governor Andrew Cuomo
Introduction by Janie Eisenberg
Audience Q&A Moderated by Mac Barrett
Roosevelt House is proud to continue, albeit virtually, its annual tradition of public conversations and lectures in the name of legendary investigative journalist and Hunter alumnus Jack Newfield, illuminating his enduring relevance and influence.
This live Zoom panel discussion of Wayne Barrett’s Without Compromise features the book’s editor Eileen Markey in conversation with contributors Tom Robbins and Andrea Bernstein, both former Newfield professors at Hunter, moderated by journalist and CUNY-TV host Sheryl McCarthy.
Without Compromise collects for the first time Barrett’s prescient and relentless investigative work for a new generation of readers—accompanied by essays from his colleagues and those he mentored. With exacting rigor and moral clarity, Barrett tracked political corruption in the pages of the Village Voice fact by fact, document by document for 40 years.
In a time when the profession of journalism is under frequent attack and the industry is under financial threat, Without Compromise delivers an urgent reminder of the power of journalism to hold to account those who betray the public trust—and of the essential role of journalism in preserving our democracy.
MSNBC’s Chris Hayes calls Without Compromise “an instantly classic collection by one of the greatest reporters New York ever produced, and one of the greatest of his era. Few could combine righteous fury with dogged attention to detail like Barrett.”
Participants:
Eileen Markey is an assistant professor of Journalism at CUNY’s Lehman College. She has written widely on housing, migration, religion, and social movements for the New York Times, New York Magazine, and Wall Street Journal, among others. She is the author of A Radical Faith: The Assassination of Sister Maura.
Andrea Bernstein, the 2017 Jack Newfield Professor of Investigative Journalism, is the author of American Oligarchs: The Kushners, the Trumps, and the Marriage of Money and Power. She is also the Peabody Award-winning co-host of the acclaimed WNYC/ProPublica podcast Trump, Inc., which won the 2019 Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University award.
Tom Robbins, the 2007 Jack Newfield Professor of Investigative Journalism, has been a reporter covering New York crime and politics for more than 30 years, including stints at the Village Voice and Daily News. Since 2011 he has been an investigative journalist in residence at CUNY’s Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism.
Moderator Sheryl McCarthy has held positions at the Daily News, ABC News, and New York Newsday, where she was a senior writer and a longtime columnist. She is a Distinguished Lecturer in journalism at CUNY’s Queens College and host of CUNY-TV’s One to One.
Tonight’s program is made possible through the generosity of the family and friends of Jack Newfield.
Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College, October 8, 2020.
