Seymour Hersh one of the keynotes to speak at #CAJ15

OTTAWA, May 6, 2015 /CNW/ - Forty years ago, the fall of Saigon marked a miserable end to the Vietnam War for all involved.

One journalist whose work helped change perceptions on that conflict? Seymour Hersh.

His work in 1969 on the Mai Lai massacre was a rude awakening for some who supported the war at all costs. Hersh's award-winning pieces joined a few others in that era in marked one of the first times war reporting worked outside the embed and the censors that had defined news from the front in the world wars. The American public was, for arguably the first time in history, reading, hearing and watching unfettered and damning coverage of the conflict and its horrors.

Hersh will be the Saturday, June 6, keynote speaker at the Canadian Association of Journalists' 2015 conference scheduled for June 5-6 at the Hotel Atlantica in Halifax. Hersh will, in the style only he can, dominate the conference stage to kick off the second and final afternoon of sessions at the conference

"As a renowned investigative journalist – who continues to produce groundbreaking work – Hersh's address to our delegates has had our organizing committee buzzing for months," CAJ president Hugo Rodrigues said. "We're thrilled to offer our delegates the opportunity to hear from Hersh."

The conference kicks off June 5 with a keynote plenary session titled Understanding Audiences, where New York Times' director of analytics James Robinson, CBC News and Centres head of strategy Andrew Cochran and the Center for Investigative Reporting's director of digital media Susanne Reber will speak about going past looking at the traffic data of our websites.

Those unable to attend in person can follow all the conference content as it's underway through our liveblog page.

The conference committee is hard at work with a few CAJ partners to confirm a third keynote who would tentatively speak after lunch on Friday.

Rates for the conference — unchanged since 2012 — start at $239 plus HST for CAJ members for the full weekend, including a ticket to the awards gala. Student member rates start at $75, with single-day registration starting at $100. These rates will go up on May 22.

All this information along with a link to our online registration site is posted on the main #CAJ15 page of our website. The conference program – as it comes together – and information on our presenters, panelists and workshop leaders are also available through our website.

The CAJ is Canada's largest national professional organization for journalists from all media, representing over 600 members across the country. The CAJ's primary roles are to provide public-interest advocacy and high-quality professional development for its members.

SOURCE Canadian Association of Journalists

Hugo Rodrigues, CAJ president, 613-330-8396 cell, [email protected]; Conference co-chair Nick Taylor-Vaisey, [email protected]; Conference co-chair Paul Schneidereit, [email protected]; Registration questions can be sent to: [email protected] www.caj.ca/caj15 / www.facebook.com/CdnAssocJournalists / www.twitter.com/CAJ