Richard Jewell, a central figure in the controversy surrounding the 1996 Olympic Centennial Park bombing, and L. Lin Wood, his lawyer, will speak tonight at the 11th Annual Luchinsky Memorial Lecture.

During the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Jewell discovered a pipe bomb, alerted police and helped evacuate the area before the bomb detonated. Jewell was falsely accused of committing the bombing but was later cleared by the FBI. Jewell, with his lawyer, sued several media outlets for libel and was compensated for his tarnished reputation.

Wood has had many high-profile cases. In addition to Jewell, Wood has represented the parents of JonBenet Ramsey, Gary Condit and the female plaintiff in the civil action for sexual assault brought against Kobe Bryant.

Clay Calvert, interim dean for Schreyer Honors College and media law professor, said Jewell was chosen as this year's speaker to relay his perspective on a highly publicized case.

"He's a true American hero ... his actions that night saved many lives," he said. "The manner in which he has tried to seek rehabilitation of his reputation is important and noble," he added.

Russell Frank, media ethics professor in the College of Communications, said he talks about the Jewell case every semester in his class. "The tricky part of this is, here is this guy whose name is released by the FBI as a suspect. You have this frightened populace ... and you get a name, and so you put it out there so people think the case is moving along," he said. "The idea that you would hold this name seems not the right way to go. ... But is the FBI more at fault for putting a name out there before they had solid information?"

Frank said it's hard for the press to find a middle ground between individual privacy and the public's right to know.

"The public doesn't really know why the press does what they do," he said. "Instead of becoming the champion of the little guy, we're perceived as another powerful player. ... [The public] will side with Richard Jewell every time."

However, Frank said that if the press wrongly tarnishes someone's reputation, it has the obligation to restore it.

"If you have a front-page story with this guy as a suspect, make sure you have a front-page story that he's not a suspect," he said. "And if you go too far, apologize for having done so."

Calvert said Jewell will most likely be speaking about the ethical and legal issues of his situation, and Wood will discuss how the media cover events and sometimes unnecessarily harm those who are involved.

Sponsored by the Schreyer Honors College, the Luchinsky Memorial Lecture Series is held in honor of Mark Luchinsky, a 20-year-old Penn State student who died in 1995. Past speakers have included Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, Olympic wrestling gold medalist Kurt Angle and former U.S. Sen. Harris Wofford.