MANCHESTER – Concord attorney William Chapman said winning the Nackey S. Loeb First Amendment Award is like getting an award for skiing. Fighting for a free press and open access to the government isn't work, he said, it's fun.

Chapman, of the Concord law firm of Orr and Reno, was honored last night at the seventh annual Loeb First Amendment Award Honors dinner at the Radisson Hotel for his 37 years of work in media law.

Chapman is considered a top authority on New Hampshire's freedom of public access and media law and has argued dozens of cases involving access to records and government proceedings on behalf of New Hampshire media outlets. Chapman also helped set the standard for protecting reporters' sources in criminal cases and public access to court and government records.

As Chapman began to walk off the stage after receiving his award in front of more than 350 people, he stopped, turned around and headed back to the podium to announce he would be donating his $1,500 prize to the Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications.

The awards dinner is hosted by the Loeb School and serves as a major fundraiser for the organization. The nonprofit school, named after the late publisher of the New Hampshire Union Leader and UnionLeader.com, was founded in 1999 to promote understanding and appreciation of the First Amendment and to foster interest, integrity and excellence in journalism and other forms of communication.

The late Robert Foster was also honored with the Loeb School's Quill & Ink Award for consistently supporting his paper's efforts to uphold the public's right to know.

Foster, who died in September, started his career in newspapers in 1946 when he took a job at the family business, George Foster Publishing Co. He served for years as the company's publisher, overseeing newspapers such as Foster's Daily Democrat in Dover and The Citizen of Laconia.

The award was accepted by his daughter, Patty Foster, who said her father's experience serving during World War II "branded the First Amendment on him," because he understood what it was like to be in a country without it.

Keynote speaker Kathleen Parker, an award-winning newspaper columnist with the Washington Post Writers Group, told the audience that social media platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, can be useful tools for newspapers, but they can never replace solid writing and reporting.

"Can you really say anything important in 140 characters besides the who, what, when and where?" Parker asked. "What newspapers are good at is the why."

Parker writes a syndicated, twice-weekly column that appears in more than 425 newspapers, including the New Hampshire Union Leader.

Columnist Kathleen Parker addresses the crowd at the Radisson Hotel as Joseph W. McQuaid, president of the Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications, listens. (BRUCE PRESTON)

The Internet has become an innovative way of spreading the news, Parker said, pointing to the flurry of news that came out of Iran via Twitter during riots after the country's presidential election.

"But the Internet isn't filling that void quickly enough," she added. She worried that social media sites and online-only news organizations aren't likely to fight the First Amendment battles, such as libel suits and access to public documents. Newspapers have underwritten those costs, she said.

►Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications Web site

Though Parker said she has a Facebook page, she admitted in an interview before the event that she rarely uses social media technology.

"I don't use it. I just refuse. Well, I do if I have to," she said. "I spent too much time learning how to write."