Mark Greenblatt, an award-winning investigative journalist and executive editor of the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, will deliver the annual Paul J. Schatt Memorial Lecture on Monday, Oct. 30.
Greenblatt’s lecture, “Disrupting Emerging Hate and Violence in 2024,” will take place from noon to 1:30 p.m in the Cronkite School’s First Amendment Forum. Greenblatt will discuss how white supremacists and lone actors pose a threat to minorities. The lecture will also describe how a smaller and more extreme subset seeks to launch attacks that could destabilize society and trigger a race war. The attacks could range from violence and shootings to conspiracy theories that creep into public dialogue.
This lecture will also focus on how threats from racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists have raised the concerns of the Department of Homeland Security, as well as the role of journalists in increasing public awareness of this issue.
“The people at the center of this movement are actively courting and successfully making connections around the world and in the United States in ways governments and lawmakers need to pay attention to,” Greenblatt said. “I’m hopeful that this lecture can leave people more informed about a threat that federal officials have acknowledged is of concern to them – in the hopes that more reporting in this space can drive better awareness and more public policy ideas on how to combat hate and violence it can sometimes inspire.”
As an investigative reporter, Greenblatt led reporting for “Inside the Global Fight for White Power,” an investigative documentary that won first place in the 2023 National Headliner Awards and prompted the U.S. Department of State to designate individuals as terrorists who were in or linked to his reporting. The award-winning hour-long show aired nationally on more than 500 NPR member stations.
“Delivering a lecture in honor of Paul Schatt, such an iconic public affairs reporter, editor and teacher, comes with a sense of deep responsibility. Schatt combined the tools of journalism and education to make our world better through giving light and revealing injustices that society has a potential to correct,” Greenblatt said. “I hope very much the time we spend together going in-depth on a topic that needs an ‘all-hands’ approach to address honors Schatt’s legacy and inspires more needed research and journalism.”
Prior to joining the Cronkite School, Greenblatt served as the senior national investigative correspondent and coordinator of specialized reporting at Scripps News, based in Washington, D.C.
He has won numerous awards, including three Peabody awards, multiple Edward R. Murrow Awards and a national Emmy Award for investigative reporting.
The Cronkite School started the Schatt lecture series in 2007 in memory of former Arizona Republic reporter, editor and columnist Paul J. Schatt, who taught public affairs reporting to Cronkite students for more than 30 years. The series in his name is supported by the Paul J. Schatt Lecture Series Endowment, established by Paul’s family and the Cronkite School.
Previous speakers have included Washington Post reporter and Pulitzer Prize winner Carol D. Leonnig, Washington Post National Political Editor Steven Ginsberg, CNN Senior Media Correspondent Brian Stelter, founding executive editor of the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the Cronkite School, Maud Beelman, and Cronkite Professor Joseph Russomanno.