Watchdog: The Role of the Journalist in a Democracy

The Boston Book Festival is pleased to host the first Boston Literary District panel with district director, Alysia Abbott, and authors Dick Lehr and Mitchell Zuckoff, for a discussion of journalism today.

The press has often been called the “fourth estate,” or the fourth branch of government, for its vital role keeping the other branches of government in check. Without a free press there’s no public sphere, no informed citizen and thus no democracy. But in times when newspapers are shuttering, and budgets for investigative teams are shrinking, how do we preserve it? We’ll be talking with Dick Lehr (Black Mass and The Fence: A Police Cover-up Along Boston’s Racial Divide) and Mitchell Zuckoff (13 Hours: The Inside Account of What Really Happened in Benghazi) about the role of the press as watch dog in stories ranging from the downfall of Whitey Bulger, to the infamous Dartmouth murders, to the current presidential election.

This event is free and open to the public and is part of the Boston Book Festival.