UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- A writer, teacher and leading voice in media ethics will present “Truth and Trust in the 21st Century: How the Ethics of Journalism and Democracy are Changing,” at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 19, in Kern Auditorium on Penn State's University Park campus.

Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute will present the annual Oweida Lecture in Journalism Ethics. The session is free and open to the public.

McBride is one of the country’s leading voices on news media ethics. She leads the Ethics Department and the Reporting, Writing and Editing Department at the Poynter Institute, a nonprofit school for journalism. The world’s largest newsrooms, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, NPR and the BBC frequently seek her advice for internal decisions and quote her expertise in their stories.

She is also the director of the Poynter Institute’s Sense-Making Project, a Ford Foundation initiative examining the transformation of journalism from a profession for a few to a civic obligation of many, the values of the Fifth Estate and the effects of technology on democracy. She is the co-editor, along with Tom Rosenstiel, of "The New Ethics of Journalism: Principles for the 21st Century,” which features essays by thought leaders and practitioners, as well as a new code of ethics for journalists and people who care about journalism.

McBride also served as the lead writer for the Poynter Review Project, when the Poynter Institute produced 40 columns over an 18-month period reviewing ESPN content across all platforms in 2011-12.

The Dr. N.N. Oweida Lecture in Journalism Ethics is supported by an endowment from Margaret L. Oweida in memory of her husband, the late Dr. N.N. Oweida, a surgeon from New Kensington, Pa.