Wildcat Student TV to Show Live Webcast of Forum

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 4, 2009) - There will be a live webcast of the 8th Annual Citizen Kentucky public forum beginning at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4 from the Great Hall in the Margaret I. King Building, where all nine of Kentucky's U.S. Senate candidates have been invited to join faculty, students and others in discussion of the key public policy issues confronting Kentucky.

If you can't make the forum, you can tune in to it at www.uky.edu/WildcatStudentTV/

The forum, designed as a roundtable discussion, will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4 in the Great Room of the University of Kentucky Margaret I. King Library, behind the president's Maxwell Place home and across from the Lucille Little Fine Arts Library. The forum is being held in conjunction with one of UK's Discovery Seminar Program classes.

The focus will be on creating a citizen's agenda of what Kentucky needs to succeed in the future.

Buck Ryan, a University of Kentucky journalism professor and director of the Citizen Kentucky Project of the UK Scripps Howard First Amendment Center, will be moderating the event, and opening remarks will be made by UK Provost Kumble Subbaswamy.

"The Citizen Kentucky Project is built on the premise that the people, the press and public life is one big dysfunctional family," Ryan said. "In our community forums, which focus on public policy issues, we change the relationship to create meaningful public deliberation and dialogue. We especially focus on engaging young people in civic life."

Part one of the discussions will focus on what the candidates think are Kentucky's most pressing problems, followed by a general discussion. That will segue into part two, where the candidates will propose possible solutions. The candidates will be asked to identify what they think are the top three problems confronting Kentucky and explain what they would do, if elected, to help solve them.

There will be tables set up providing campaign literature and voter registration information at the event as well.

The Citizen Kentucky Project began in 2001 with a national award-winning KET program, "Citizen Kentucky: Democracy and the Media." The most recent program, "Citizen Kentucky/Citizen China: Hope for a New Century," explored how Kentucky is connected to China through commerce, education and the arts, religion, adoptions, health care, and news and sports.

The School of Journalism and Telecommunications, including the Scripps Howard First Amendment Center, is housed in the UK College of Communications and Informations Studies. The center's mission is to promote understanding of the First Amendment among citizens of Kentucky, to advocate for First Amendment rights in the Commonwealth and nationally, and to produce internationally recognized scholarship concerning the First Amendment and its related freedoms.

For more information about the center's Citizen Kentucky Project or the Nov. 4 forum, contact Buck Ryan at buck.ryan@uky.edu or call (859) 257-4360.