New York Times Reporter To Replace Editor At CWU Speaking Engagement

April 12, 2004

Contact: Dr. Elizabeth Street (509-963-2111/fax 509-963-3206/e-mail: streetl@cwu.edu)

ELLENSBURG, Wash.-- Because of the continuing 9/11 hearings and the escalating violence in Iraq, Richard L. Berke, the Washington, D.C., editor for the New York Times, will not appear tonight (APRIL 12) as scheduled at Central Washington University.

"What happened is that the executive editor, Bill Keller, decided this afternoon (Sunday) that the paper couldn't afford to let me be out of the pocket given my role in operations of the Washington Bureau because this promises to be one of the biggest weeks in Washington in a long time."

However, Times political reporter Katharine Q. Seelye will appear in Berke's place for the presentation titled "Behind the Scenes of the 2004 Presidential Campaign," at 7 p.m. in McConnell Auditorium.

"She just came back today (Sunday) from a week of covering John Kerry," Berke says. "She has vast political and Washington experience and she taught a seminar on politics at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government that was very popular."

"Kit," as she is known, has been a political reporter for 10 years at The New York Times. Before that, she covered politics for The Philadelphia Inquirer, and previously covered the statehouse and politics in Albany, N.Y.

Her first presidential campaign was in 1992, when she was "on the bus" with Bill Clinton. In 1996 she was "on the bus" with Bob Dole, and in 2000 was "on the bus" with Al Gore -- for 18 months plus another unexpected 36 days during the re-count.

In between presidential campaigns, she has covered the White House, Congress and the environment.

For more information about Seelye's CWU presentation, or for persons of disability to arrange for reasonable accommodation, call (509) 963-2111, or (for the hearing impaired) TDD (509) 963-2143.