As a part of Iowa State’s First Amendment Days celebration, Glenn Smith will speak at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union. 

Smith will discuss how different community media outlets across the country have an important role in dealing with fake news and alternative facts and how it is important to use the power of the First Amendment to expose lies, shed light on injustices and give a voice to the downtrodden.  

Smith will also speak about how newspapers in Charleston, South Carolina, have made a difference with watchdog journalism. This also includes a Pulitzer Prize-winning series that sparked widespread domestic reforms in the nation’s deadliest state for women.