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Freedom of speech topic for South African editor at BYU lecture Oct. 6

“Freedom of Speech and Press: The Need and the Reasons” will be the topic at a David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies lecture at Brigham Young University Tuesday, Oct. 6, at 3 p.m. in 238 Herald R. Clark Building.

Jovial Rantao, editor of The Sunday Independent and deputy editor of The Star newspapers in Johannesburg, will present the lecture.

Rantao is also the chairman of the South African National Editors’ Forum, a South African organization that promotes freedom of expression. Professionally, he has spent much of his journalistic career at The Star, where he has held the posts of content and executive editor, news editor, political editor and political correspondent.

Rantao is co-author of the book, “Life and Times of Thabo Mbeki,” a biography of the second post-apartheid president of South Africa. Rantao received a bachelor’s degree in journalism with honors from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

This lecture will be archived online. For more information on David M. Kennedy Center events, visit the calendar at kennedy.byu.edu.

For more information about this lecture, contact Lee Simons at (801) 422-2652.

Writer: Ricardo Castro

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