KU News Release

Conservative political reporter Robert Novak to speak at Dole Institute

LAWRENCE — The Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas will host “An Evening with Robert D. Novak” at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 30. Novak, the self-titled “Prince of Darkness,” is a conservative political reporter who has worked in the media for more than 50 years.

“It seems that whenever there is burning political intrigue in Washington, Bob Novak is right in the middle of it,” said Jonathan Earle, interim director of the Dole Institute. “I’m guessing that his visit to the institute will be as interesting as it is informative.”

The event is free and open to the public. Novak will sign copies of his book, “The Prince of Darkness: 50 Years Reporting in Washington,” immediately following the program.

Novak works as a syndicated columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, writing “Inside Report,” one of the longest-running syndicated columns in the nation. Novak has reported for the Associated Press, the Wall Street Journal, CNN and Fox News. Novak is the author of several books and has been featured in several movies.

Novak gained notoriety for “outing” CIA operative Valerie Plame on July 14, 2003. He named Plame as the wife of Joseph Wilson, a U.S. diplomat who wrote a New York Times column debunking the notion that Iraq had tried to buy uranium in Niger. Despite Wilson’s report, the Bush administration used the Niger story to justify the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Novak has since justified the release of Plame’s identity as freedom of the press.

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