Panel to explore how newspaper unearthed photographer's double life as FBI informant Oct. 10

How a mid-size city newspaper, the Memphis Commerical Appeal was able to dig up the extraordinary story of an iconic photographer covering Martin Luther King Jr. while at the same time spying on him for the FBI will be the topic of a panel discussion at the National Press Club Thursday, Oct. 10.

The event, called “Double Exposure,” sponsored by the Club’s Freedom of the Press and Young Members Committees, will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Lisagor Room.

Admission is free for NPC members and $5 for non-members. To register, click here.

The event is designed to bring to life how the Commercial Appeal used a precedent-setting Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit -- and years of reporting -- to piece together the facts about Ernest Withers, a famous photographer of civil rights movement who was granted close access to King and other civil rights leaders in order to capture their images for posterity. At the same time, it turns out, Withers was spying on King and his colleagues for the FBI.

The event has particular resonance today. It comes just weeks after the 50th anniversary King’s "I Have a Dream" speech, and on the heels of recent news about the government's sweeping domestic surveillance operations. The discussion hopes to highlight the challenges public-affairs journalism faces as news organizations’ business models are under stress. And the panelists plan to shed light not only on the government's past surveillance practices but also on FOIA and the public's right to know what its government is up to.

Panelists will include:

• Marc Perrusquia, reporter for the Commercial Appeal
• David Garrow, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and author on the civil rights movement
• Mizell Stewart III, vice president for newspaper content at The E.W. Scripps Company
• David M. Giles, vice president and deputy general counsel at The E.W. Scripps Company
• Miriam M. Nisbet, director of the Office of Government Information Services for the
National Archives and Records Administration
• John F. Fox, Jr., PhD, historian of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
• (moderator) Charles D. Tobin, attorney at the law firm of Holland & Knight LLP