The McCarthey Family Foundation Lecture Series to present the strong voice of an Irish Catholic

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Chris Matthews

SALT LAKE CITY – The sixth annual McCarthey Family Foundation Lecture series: In Praise of Independent Journalism will feature Chris Matthews, who has been a news correspondent, presidential speech writer, newspaper bureau chief, bestselling author and news anchor.

"It’s an important time in America to hear from someone that it is almost a conservative Democrat," said Phil McCarthey, who organizes the lecture series. "Many people don’t know he is an Irish Catholic, raised by a Catholic family."

Matthews was born in Philadelphia, Penn. In 1967 he graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. Since the 1980s he has covered every American presidential election campaign. He also hosts the television show "Hardball with Chis Matthews," which is transmitted by MSNBC. On weekends he hosts the syndicated NBC news produced panel discussion program "The Chris Matthews Show."

"It is important to have a person that is so well known and, frankly, very controversial," McCarthey said. "I do believe that he will generate quite a bit of discussion and people will be really interested, saying, ‘Did you hear what he said? Can you believe said that? What do you think?’"

The McCarthey Lecture Series is meant to promote the idea of the independent journalism in Utah in recognition of the vital role an independent press plays in a true democracy.

Last year around 700 people attended the lecture; the 2010 keynote speaker was Ingrid Betancourt, the Colombian presidential candidate who was kidnapped and held for six years by a rebel group.

"We think it’s important that people come to these lectures so they can hear people who are in the political field, or in the journalistic field; who are a variety of people who every day are exposed to different ideas. We think it’s important that they can come and express their ideas, their thoughts and, many times, their experiences," McCarthey said, adding that it gives people in Utah an opportunity to hear voices they may not have heard before. "They can have the opportunity to hear someone that maybe has their same point of view or the diametrical opposite."

Those who attend the lecture have the chance to participate with comments or questions.

"We encourage people to come; we think it’s important to hear somebody who can be such a dramatic figure, who will be very strong, very opinionated, and to hear what his thoughts are of where we are today and how the presidential election will look a year from now," said McCarthey.

The McCarthey Family Foundation Lecture Series will take place Saturday Oct. 29 at the Philip G. McCarthey Campus (720 South Guardsman Way), Rowland Hall St. Mark’s. The lecture is free and open to the public. Doors open at 6:15 p.m.