FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 6, 2006

CONTACT: Daniel P. Finney, (515) 271-2833, daniel.finney@drake.edu

BBC JOURNALIST TO SPEAK AT DRAKE’S SUPREME COURT CELEBRATION

Justin Webb, BBC Radio’s chief Washington Correspondent, will deliver the keynote address at the Drake University Law School’s annual Supreme Court Celebration at 7 p.m., Saturday, March 11, at the Des Moines Marriott Downtown, 700 Grand Ave.

Webb’s talk is titled “America and Europe: Why We’re Drifting Apart.” He will discuss the changing nature of relations between the U.S. and Europe and the growing misunderstandings between the peoples of the two continents.

Webb is a television anchor – currently seen in the U.S. on the evening BBC World News on public television.

Before coming to Washington, Webb spent three years as the BBC’s Europe Correspondent, based in Brussels, Belgium. Prior to that he was a BBC anchor based in London. For three years he was the main anchor of the morning television news show “Breakfast News” and also presented the evening six o’clock news. During that time he interviewed many senior politicians and two Prime Ministers, John Major and Tony Blair.

Webb’s previous career included stints as a roving foreign correspondent during which he reported from the first Gulf War, the war in Bosnia, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the first democratic elections in South Africa, and even a coup in the Maldive Islands. His first job in the BBC was for Radio Ulster, based in Belfast, Ireland.

He was educated at Friends’ School Sidcot and the London School of Economics from which he graduated in 1983 with an honors degree in Economics.

The dinner is an annual celebration of the Iowa Supreme Court. The event is by invitation only, but the news media can make special arrangements to cover the event by contacting Jennifer Hansen at (515) 271-1877 or jennifer.hansen@drake.edu.

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