On Wednesday afternoon, students in one of professor Ann Hettinger’s magazine class will hear what Mortimer Zuckerman thinks about the media’s role in world affairs.

Hettinger said she assigned students in her advanced editing class to attend the lecture, which is free and open to the public, because she thought they would benefit from Zuckerman’s “unique perspective” on the news world.

Zuckerman, publisher and editor in chief of U.S. News and World Report and the New York Daily News, will speak at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at 1 p.m. in room 254 Newhouse II.

“They’re looking forward to hearing him,” she said. “Any time they get to hear from someone who’s influential it helps them get insight into the field and the way the business is run.”

In addition to his positions at the U.S. News and World Report and the New York Daily News, Zuckerman also serves on the advisory board at University of California at Berkley’s Graduate School of Journalism and a number of other organizations.

Zuckerman’s presentation will be the last of its type held at Newhouse this semester, said Nancy Sharp, coordinator of Newhouse’s lecture series. She said both the university’s and Newhouse’s lecture series are new this year and that they worked together to organize this year’s events.

“What we wanted was a top-level lecture series, and when we combined our funds we were really able to get some spectacular speakers,” Sharp said.

Other University Series lecturers include Tuesday night’s David McCullough, author of the book “John Adams;” Susan Taylor, editorial director of Essence magazine and Juan Williams, a broadcaster for Fox News and National Public Radio.

Jeff Kreithen, a senior magazine major, said he is impressed that Newhouse has such an influential person speaking to the school’s students.

“I’m looking forward to hearing what it takes to run such a large magazine,” Kreithen said. “As far as news magazines go I really prefer U.S. News and World Report over Newsweek and Time because it’s less sensational and gives facts and opinion that are balanced on the political spectrum.”

BIll Glavin, another Newhouse magazine professor, said he thinks all students should take advantage of Zuckerman’s visit to Syracuse University.

“It’s always good for students to hear real-life stories and advice from those in the field,” Glavin said. “It will be especially interesting to hear what he has to say about the state of magazines because it’s a tough time right now in the business.”

Glavin said the national economic slump has hit magazines especially hard.

Zuckerman’s lecture should be particularly interesting because the positions he holds with the two publications traditionally rival each other, Hettinger said.

“Obviously anyone who’s in high positions like he is is interesting,” Hettinger said. “In general, the editor in chief and publisher have different goals because the publisher is concerned strictly with sales while the editor in chief is concerned with the journalistic integrity of the magazine. They’re not always in sync.”

Published on March 5, 2002 at 12:00 pm