ISU alumnus Terry Anderson, an Associated Press international correspondent, was taken by Shiite Muslims in Lebanon in 1984. He remained a captive for 2,454 days.

It was an experience that motivated him and his wife to co-write a national best-seller, “Den of Lions,” in which Anderson recounted being beaten and rolled up in a rug for hours as his captors transported him.

Anderson’s abduction is a reminder of the hardships journalists face in countries where First Amendment rights are not protected. It’s a reminder that’s become all the more pertinent as journalists around the world are experiencing the problem of protection firsthand as they cover the conflict in Iraq.

These issues of free speech protection will be the focus of a panel discussion, including Anderson and two other prominent journalists, that concludes Iowa State’s First Amendment Day on Thursday.

Michael Bugeja, director of the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication, will moderate the forum titled “Attacks on the Press — Not Just Abroad,” to begin at 8 p.m. in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union.

The forum will feature two other names in the world of First Amendment Rights protection: Ann Cooper and Larry Heinzerling.

Bugeja said the speakers are all associated with foreign correspondence and press freedom, particularly in countries that allow less freedom than the United States.

“That’s not to say that the First Amendment in our country is absolute,” he said. “Some people believe it should be, and others, including me, are worried about its erosion in contemporary society.”

Cooper, an ISU alumna who received the Greenlee School’s most prestigious journalism service award in 1997, is the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists. She has also seen the world and the concept of freedom of the press from many angles.

She has covered some of the most prominent events in the unstable Soviet region throughout the end of the 1980s, was in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square for the pro-democracy movement and provided readers with an account of the end of apartheid in South Africa from 1992 to 1995, before becoming the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists.

“[Cooper] has firsthand experience as a reporter and in efforts to support journalists in countries outside of the U.S,” said Tom Emmerson, professor of journalism and communication and adviser to the ISU News Group, which is co-sponsoring the event.

Heinzerling, who is Cooper’s husband, worked for press freedom and the protection of journalists overseas as well throughout his 35 years with the Associated Press. He currently works for the Associated Press as the deputy international editor for world services. He has also worked overseas, including South Africa, where he earned a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the Soweto uprising in South Africa in 1976.

Many speculate it was Heinzerling’s behind-the-scenes work with the Associated Press as a journalist-diplomat for three years that helped free Anderson.

Since his release in 1991, Anderson has been dedicated to the protection of journalists, as he was made honorary co-chairman of the Committee to Protect Journalists.

“First Amendment freedoms need to be supported and defended well beyond our borders,” Emmerson said.

He said the panel topic is relevant especially now because journalists are more or less being targeted in Iraq.

“It’s all about the free flow of information to the public,” Emmerson said.

“You can’t be an intelligent citizen unless you get the information.”

— Tom Barton contributed to this article.