Geraldo Rivera guest speaker at Nov. 11 event to establish The Center for Local News at UC

The event will celebrate the new center and UC’s dedication to the study of journalism

The University of Cincinnati is pleased to announce the establishment of The Center for Local News within the UC Department of Journalism. 

A free, public event to celebrate the announcement will take place on UC’s campus at 4 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 11, at  Probasco Auditorium, 2839 Clifton Ave., with acclaimed journalist Geraldo Rivera as the guest speaker. 

Brian Calfano at left with Geraldo Rivera in a garden setting

Brian Calfano, head of the Department of Journalism, and Geraldo Rivera. Photo/Calfano.

“This is a joyous occasion,” says Brian Calfano, professor and head of the journalism department. “Not only do we celebrate one of television’s most consequential journalists, but we mark the start of a new era in journalism education and outreach at UC.”

The event also features portions of the department’s documentary on Eyewitness News creator Al Primo (1935-2022).  

Primo was an American television news executive who is credited with creating the Eyewitness News format. Hundreds of markets took on the Eyewitness News name to label their own featured local newscasts and others continue to use Primo's concept under different names for their own formats.

Primo is also credited with discovering and mentoring Rivera, who rose to national prominence in 1975 for pushing for, and anchoring, the first public airing of “The Zapruder Film” — a 1963 home movie of the Kennedy assassination taken by bystander Abraham Zapruder — on ABC’s Good Night America

The event will celebrate the new center and UC’s dedication to the study of journalism since 2012, when the department was founded. 

Featured graphic at top: iStock Photo/TarikVision  

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