Tully Center for Free Speech
The Tully Center for Free Speech located at the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York was started in 2006 with a bequest from Joan A. Tully, a 1969 graduate of the Newhouse School & Daily Orange alumni.
Mission
The Tully Center's primary mission is to advocate for free speech and expression; conduct research on media, law, and policy; and encourage robust conversations between students, faculty, and citizens about these issues. In addition, The Tully Center brings in speakers throughout the year who lecture in classes and at events at the S.I. Newhouse School and across the Syracuse University community. The Tully Center conducts research on a number of topics relevant to free speech, expression and media law through its Free Speech Zone blog and an annual Syracuse Law Review dedicated to media law issues.Tully Free Speech Award
Tully Center presents the annual Tully Center for Free Speech Award to a journalist who has survived a significant free speech threat. Candidates are nominated by an international panel of journalists and lawyers. The Award recipient is selected by an Award Committee of SU faculty and students.| Year | Name of Recipient | Country of Origin | Honored for |
| 2008 | Aboubakr Jamaï | Morocco | Jamaï faced a jail sentence and forced exile from his country over his dedication to exposing governmental corruption. |
| 2009 | Barry Bearak | United States of America | Bearak, a Pulitzer prize-winning Journalist from South Africa who was jailed in Zimbabwe for covering the elections without government permission |
| 2009 | Frank Chikowore | Zimbabwe | Chikowore was also honored for his dedication to free speech after he was arrested at detained for 17 days for covering a strike during the 2008 Zimbabwe elections. |
| 2010 | Lydia Cacho | Mexico | Cacho was honored for her commitment to reporting on women and children's rights. In 2005, Cacho was illegally arrested and tortured for her book, Los Demonios del Eden: El Poder Que Protege a la Pornografia Infantil, which exposed a Mexican child pornography ring operating with protection from Mexican politicians and businessmen. |
| 2011 | Umar Cheema | Pakistan | Pakistan has gained a reputation as one of the deadliest countries to be a journalist, and after reporting on the lack of accountability within the military, Cheema was abducted and brutally beaten. |
| 2012 | Lamees Dhaif | Bahrain | When traditional outlets for her writing were unavailable, Dhaif turned to social media to cover hot button issues in Bahrain. In accepting the award, Dhaif dedicated it to a young protester who was killed by government forces. |
| 2013 | Idrak Abbasov | Azerbaijan | In 2012 while filming protests against the state oil company, Abbasov was attacked by what he believed were oil company security forces and the police, but the Azerbaijani president denies the allegations. Despite the attack, he has remained dedicated to his job, and continued to work even while recovering from his injuries. |
| 2014 | Alan Rusbridger | Northern Rhodesia/ The UK | Rusbridger is responsible for publishing reports from whistleblower Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor who leaked thousands of classified documents, which included details of American surveillance operations. |
| 2015 | Kathy Gannon | Canada | For her heroic, relentless courage while working as a senior correspondent for the AP in Pakistan and Afghanistan. While covering an assignment for the Associated Press, an attack left Gannon with limited use of her hands and mortally wounded her coworker and friend Anja Niedringhaus. |
| 2016 | Jason Rezaian | United States of America | After reporting in Iran for more than five years, Rezaian was arrested for espionage and spent 544 days in one of Iran’s most notorious prisons. |
| 2017 | Daphne Caruana Galizia | Malta | Galizia dedicated her career to exposing government corruption and organized crime in Malta. For decades, she continued to report despite facing threats, harassment, attacks, and 47 libel lawsuits. She died in a car bomb in October 2017. |
| 2018 | Maria Ressa | Philippines/ United States of America | Maria Ressa is the founder, CEO, and executive editor of Rappler, a Philippine news website created in 2012. Ressa and the publication have been targeted by the Philippine government because of critical coverage of President Rodrigo Duterte's controversial policies and actions. |
Events
In September 2013, The Tully Center hosted free speech advocate Mary Beth Tinker and student press law attorney Mike Hiestand as part of the nationwide project. In March 2013, Larry Flynt presented a talk as the Tully Center Distinguished Speaker to celebrate 25 years since the precedent-setting Hustler v. Falwell Supreme Court case. Other past speakers have included Daniel Ellsberg, New York Times reporter Brian Stelter, Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!, Floyd Abrams, Irving Feiner, and Alan Alda.In April 2015, the Tully Center hosted a panel on . The speakers, including Kristin Borjesson, Louis Clark, and Thomas Tamm discussed the important role whistleblowers and the press play in promoting accountability and the challenges they face. Mary Beth Tinker came back to the Tully Center in October 2015 during Banned Book Week to talk about free speech rights and In November, 2015, the Tully Center hosted Tech executive and owner of Aereo, Chet Kanojia, who discussed the shutdown of Aereo after the company was sued for copyright violations.
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In conjunction with the Society of Professional Journalists and the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism at Syracuse, the Tully Center hosted John F. Sopko who was appointed to be the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction in October of 2016. Toward the end of 2016, The Tully Center hosted Free Speech Week, a week dedicated to advocating for the First Amendment.
In February of 2017, the Tully Center held a screening of Tickling Giants, a documentary which followed how Dr. Bassem Youssef finds creative, non-violent ways to protect free speech and fight a president who abuses his power. From February to April of 2017, The Tully Center hosted the speaker series, Law Politics and the Media. The speakers featured in this series include: Dahlia Lithwick, a Supreme Court Reporter; Tom Bruce, a pioneer for the Free Access to Law movement ; Jennifer Borg, First Amendment lawyer ; Jenny Diamond Cheng, lawyer and Vanderbilt researcher; and Matthew Levendusky, author and political scientist Then, in April 2017, Dr. Changfeng Chen gave a lecture discussing internet governance in China. In October of 2017, The Tully Center hosted Nadine Strossen, the former president of the American Civil Liberties Union for a discussion of Free Speech on College campuses. In October, the Tully Center launched a video series which examined the major developments in First Amendment Law.
In April of 2018, The Tully Center hosted Brett Orzechowski, author of FOIL: The Law and the Future of Public Information in New York, to discuss how the Freedom of Information Law remains a critical part of investigative reporting. Then, Lee Rainie, director of internet and technology research at the Pew Research Center, came to speak about factual reporting of public opinion polls in tense times. Later that year, The Tully Center brought in Rodney Sieh, a journalist who faced a 5,000 year jail sentence in Liberia for working as an independent journalist, to speak about his experiences and book Journalist on Trial.
The Tully Center kicked off their 2019 events calendar by hosting Nina Totenberg, renowned NPR correspondent, for a lecture on her experiences covering legal affairs. In April, The Tully Center presented Maria Ressa, brave journalist and editor of online news platform Rappler, with the 2019 Tully Free Speech Award.. In mid-September, The Tully Center hosted cartoonist Dwayne "Mr. Fish" Booth for a screening of documentary Mr.Fish: Cartooning from the Deep End