
The Giles Press Freedom Lecture
May 28, 2026
Deborah Amos, Ferris Professor of Journalism in Residence, Princeton University, former NPR International Correspondent, Middle East contributor NPR Morning Edition & All Things Considered
About The Giles Press Freedom Lecture
This annual programming is supported in part by a gift to IAF from the late Robert & Nancy Giles. Bob was a two-time Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, editor, and author who served our community as a former IAF Advisory Board member. He was a lifetime champion of press freedom and journalistic integrity.
Learn more about the lives of Robert Giles & Nancy Giles.


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Thursday, May 28, 2026
7:00 pm Eastern US program | 6:00 pm reception
Dennos Museum Center Milliken Auditorium
1701 E. Front St. Traverse City, MI
Hybrid event | in-person audience and online livestream
In-person admission | $15 per person, advance purchase | $20 at venue
Online admission | $10 per person | watch online
Students & educators | free admission for current students and educators, including NMC and area secondary schools.
Members | Supporters of IAF do not need to purchase tickets. Members make these programs possible via membership gifts. Explore membership options
here.
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About the speaker
Deborah Amos is the Ferris Professor of Journalism in Residence at Princeton University. A longtime international correspondent, Amos spent much of her award-winning career at National Public Radio. Her reporting on the Middle East and refugees in the U.S. regularly featured on NPR’s Morning Edition, Weekend Edition, and All Things Considered. She recently covered the Syrian and Iraqi refugee crises, the economy in the Middle East, and the Arab youth surge. Previously she reported for ABC’s Nightline and PBS’s Frontline.
Amos is the author of two books: Eclipse of the Sunnis: Power, Exile, and Upheaval in the Middle East, and Lines in the Sand: Desert Storm and the Remaking of the Arab World. She has won several major journalism honors, including a Courage in Journalism Award from the International Women’s Media Foundation, a George Foster Peabody Award, an Edward R. Murrow Lifetime Achievement Award, and an Emmy.
About the moderator
Elizabeth Jensen is a Knight Wallace Great Lakes News Fellow 2025-26. Jensen consults on journalism ethics and standards and is the co-chair of Press Forward Northern Michigan, an organization working to support local journalism in the region. A longtime media beat reporter, Jensen is an expert on U.S. public media and served as NPR’s fifth public editor/ombudsman. In that role, she represented the interests of the public in the newsroom, and created a series of live events where NPR journalists discussed their newsgathering processes and ethical decisions. Over her career, she has reported for the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times, was a regular contributor to The New York Times, investigated vegetarian marshmallow fraud for CNBC, and taught food journalism at New York University. A native of Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, she moved back to her home state in 2021 and has been working since then to understand the changing information landscape.
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