Roundtable: Southern Psyche

In this roundtable discussion, John Seigenthaler, Chris Peck and Wanda Lloyd, all veteran editors, discussed how they handled coverage of their changing communities, followed by a group discussion led by Gregory Favre of the Poynter Institute.

Wanda Lloyd is the executive editor of the Montgomery Advertiser and montgomeryadvertiser.com. Before moving to Montgomery, she was the founding executive director of the Freedom Forum Diversity Institute. Lloyd was formerly managing editor at The Greenville (S.C.) News. Before that, she was senior editor/days & administration at USA TODAY, where she served earlier as deputy managing editor/cover stories and managing editor/administration. She also worked at the Providence Evening Bulletin, Miami Herald, Atlanta Journal and The Washington Post.

Lloyd is a recipient of the Ida B. Wells and the Robert G. McGruder awards for media diversity. She holds a bachelor's degree in English from Spelman College in Atlanta and an honorary doctorate of laws from Briarwood College in Southington, Conn. She was a fellow at the Management Training Center of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education.

Chris Peck is the editor of The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, a position he has held since December 2002. He oversees all news operations at the newspaper and serves on the executive management team.

Prior to coming to Memphis he was the Belo Distinguished Chair in Journalism at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Before that he was editor of The Spokesman-Review in Spokane.

John Seigenthaler founded the First Amendment Center in 1991 with the mission of creating national discussion, dialogue and debate about First Amendment rights and values. A former president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Seigenthaler served for 43 years as an award-winning journalist for The Tennessean, Nashville's morning newspaper. At his retirement he was editor, publisher and CEO. He retains the title chairman emeritus. In 1982, Seigenthaler became founding editorial director of USA Today and served in that position for a decade, retiring from both the Nashville and national newspapers in 1991. A former Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, he served for two decades as a member of the Nieman advisory board.

Gregory Favre of the Poynter Institute (left), moderates a roundtable discussion between Chris Peck, editor of The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Wanda Lloyd, executive editor of the Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser and John Seigenthaler, founder of the First Amendment Center. As current or former editors, they were asked how they handled coverage of their changing communities and about their experiences in the civil rights era.