DANIEL PEARL MAGNET STUDENTS CELEBRATE PRIVATE DONATION

By Richard Horgan MediaBistro.com | Journalism 101, Season of Giving |http://bit.ly/zL53gk

January 10, 2012 9:15 AM :: Today in Van Nuys, students at the Daniel Pearl Magnet High School will gather to watch Charles Evans Jr.‘s documentary Addiction Incorporated, all about the tobacco industry’s original whistleblower Victor DeNoble. Evans will be in attendance for a Q&A with former LA Times reporter Myron Levin and lunch with members of school newspaper The Pearl Post.

Evans will also be applauded for his private donation of $15,000 to the school. As first reported by Levin’s former employer and expanded upon this morning by KPCC, the money has already been earmarked:

It’ll go to create a much-needed broadcast news class, 11th-grader Ellie Batchiyska, editor of the campus newspaper, told KPCC. “Our journalism program has been underfunded for a while now,” Batchiyska said, “and journalism is the main component of our school, so I think it should be one of our top priorities, and when I heard this I couldn’t help but imagine all opportunities we’d get.”

To view the trailer for Addiction Incorporated, click here.

 

Filmmaker donates $15,000 to L.A. high school for journalism

by Rick Rojas / LA Times/LA Now | http://lat.ms/zHklVY

January 9, 2012 | 12:06 pm | Charles Evans, the director of a documentary aimed at exposing big tobacco's systematic cover-up of scientific evidence showing nicotine to be addictive, has donated $15,000 to Daniel Pearl Magnet High School, officials said Monday.

The donation will be used to support the school's journalism offerings, the Los Angeles Unified School District said.

"We look forward to welcoming these new filmmakers and journalists into an industry that sorely needs young people with the idealism, skill and the passion for truth in reporting," Evans said in a statement.

On Tuesday, students at the San Fernando Valley school will screen Evans' film, "Addiction Incorporated," in a school assembly.

The film -- a project that took 15 years to complete -- highlights the work of Victor DeNoble, a scientist who became the whistleblower who revealed the tobacco industry's intentions of making its products highly addictive.

Students will also take part in a panel discussion with Evans, DeNoble and investigative journalist Myron Levin, formerly of the Los Angeles Times. The three will also have lunch with the staff of the high school's student newspaper.