Oct. 4, 2001
Dan Rather to Discuss Terrorism Coverage on Kalb
Forum
Oct. 9 Event Slated for The National Press Club
By Bob
Ludwig
CBS Evening News Anchor and Managing Editor Dan Rather will join journalist/scholar
Marvin Kalb at the National Press Club on Tuesday, Oct. 9, at 8 pm,
for a discussion of the recent terrorist attacks on America and the
role and responsibility of television news in this new global challenge.
The forum kicks off a seven-part “Kalb Report” series entitled,
“Journalism at the Crossroads,” underwritten by a grant from
the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and co-sponsored by The George
Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs, The National
Press Club, and the Shorenstein Center on Press, Politics, and Public
Policy at Harvard University. All of the programs in the forum will
taped and will be broadcast on WHUT TV (Channel 32). In addition, many
shows will appear on C-SPAN.
“The events of the past several weeks have proven once again the
vital role of television news in our society,” says Kalb. “Americans
have been glued to their sets watching some of the most compelling pictures
and riveting coverage in history. Still, it is costing the networks
hundreds of millions of dollars to provide this coverage in a time of
unprecedented economic pressure on editorial content and quality.
“Our job in this series is to explore whether the commitment to
quality journalism will continue as newsrooms become smaller cogs in
larger corporate wheels,” he continues.
GW, The National Press Club, and the Shorenstein Center have produced
21 programs in the “The Kalb Report” series since 1994. Programs
have covered a wide range of issues at the intersection of public policy
and the press including media coverage of the 2000 presidential campaign,
talk-show democracy, and covering the private lives of public officials.
This series also has featured one-on-one conversations with journalistic
legends such as Walter Cronkite and Bernard Shaw.
Rather joined CBS News in 1962 and has handled some of the most challenging
assignments in journalism, including covering the Vietnam War as a correspondent,
anchoring news coverage of the Clinton scandal involving Monica Lewinsky,
and the unprecedented terrorist attacks on New York City and the Pentagon.
His day-to-day commitment to substantive, fair, and accurate news reporting
and his tough active style have earned him a position of respect among
his peers and the public.
Over a distinguished 30-year broadcast career Marvin Kalb served as
chief diplomatic correspondent for CBS News and NBC News, and as moderator
of “Meet the Press.” Among his many honors are two Peabody
Awards, the DuPont Prize from Columbia University, and more than a half-dozen
Overseas Press Club awards. He is currently executive director of the
Shorenstein Center’s Washington office and has served as a visiting
professor and visiting scholar at GW. His newest book is called “One
Scandalous Story: Clinton, Lewinsky, and 13 Days That Transformed American
Journalism.”
The executive producer for the “Kalb Report” series is Michael
Freedman, GW vice president for communications and former CBS Radio
Network News general manager.
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has underwritten the series
as part of its News Economics Initiative, designed to stimulate informed
discussions about the quality of journalism and the business of news.
“ ‘The Kalb Report’ has a great track record of taking
on difficult issues,” says Eric Newton, director of journalism
initiatives with the Knight Foundation. “The national economic
downturn has combined with pressures for higher media company profits
to squeeze nearly all general-circulation news operations. And suddenly,
one of the biggest news stories in American history enters the picture.
Now what?”
The Knight Foundation was established in 1950 as a private foundation
independent of the Knight brothers’ newspaper enterprises. It is
dedicated to furthering their ideals of service to the community, to
the highest standards of journalistic excellence, and to the defense
of a free press.
Tickets for the Oct. 9 forum are available at the Marvin Center’s
second floor Ticketmaster Box Office.
Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu
