Coverage of the 2010 Edward R. Murrow Symposium with Robin Fields, Judy Woodruff, and Deborah Amos
- Transcript
And walk. Up to the sixth annual Edward R. Murrow symposium I'm Glen Johnson. And with respect to our guests and our fellow attendees Tonight we ask you please turn off your cell phones or put them on vibrate or other electronic devices etc.. And now if you'll please rise. Those who are wearing hats please remove them for the posting of our colors. Thank the Army ROTC for the presentation of the colors you may be seated
like. Now introduce Dr. Lawrence Pontac our dean of the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication Dr. penstock is an accomplished writer teacher broadcast journalist who's worked on four continents. Sought after as an expert in a wide variety of fields especially America's relationship with the Muslim world. He was a CBS News correspondent in the Middle East. He also covered Indonesia. His columns appear in The New York Times The International Herald Tribune The Daily Star Beirut Daily News Cairo Arab News and I could continue to go on. No I won't. OK. Thank you very much. Here is Lawrence Pentax the dean of the Edward R. Murrow college. I always feel very old when I hear those introductions. I can't thank all of you enough for being here tonight. I am so impressed with our turnout today with the quality of conversations that have gone on today between all of you and all of our students
and particularly our our guests who are part of the sessions earlier today. Amazing a group of people like this that have come all this way to talk to us to help us share in their vision of where we're going where all of this is taking us. And certainly as a as the dean of a college that's trying to figure all of this out and prepare our students I found it a really worthwhile set of conversations this evening is made possible by more people than I can begin to name and certainly than you want me to name but I do want to thank those who have provided the generous support that it made all of this possible. That includes Paul and Marty Casey of Casey communications Steve and Jan Lutz of perishable group and particularly Steve-O's outgoing chair of the advisory board for Morrow and I'd like all of the members of that advisory board to briefly stand
up for us because you play such an important role. Others who've offered financial and other kinds of support include Pat Castelo of King broadcasting John schole of big Inc. Fred think in worth of K L W TV and Fisher communications Bonnie Hilary of Saul and has Foundation d.j Wilson of KGW media group Jim Clayton of KOMO 4 News Jim and Karen Pravesh all of you here. WS You know them Virginia and Mike McCarty and Pat Patterson and Dan Gallagher. Thank all of you so much. And fresh from 0 7 4 7 from Tokyo. I'd like to introduce introduce WSEX president Dr. Elsin Floyd. Thank you very much. Pontac and thank each and every one of you for being a part
of this symposium. I would like to add my voice of congratulations to those honorees that we were recognized this evening. I thank you for your contributions to high quality broadcasts in our country and our world. You see you make an indelible imprint on what happens. You influence public opinion perspectives associated with our world and with our nation and with the communities in which we are part of and it is to you that we bestow our trust and our confidence. But these are changing times. It's very confusing these days in which we can get on the Internet and have immediate access to the voluminous nature of information that's in this world. What's true what's not what's real and what's not real. Do we fact check anymore. Whose voice is the dominant voice you
see in the days of Edward R. Murrow. It was fairly easy. He was one of a handful of individuals who informed public opinion. We knew the cause of their presence their professionalism their persona that what they said was indeed factual. These are different times and in fact while there are a ray of media outlets available we have to wonder sometimes about the integrity associated with it. But you know it is through the integrity of the panelists whom you will hear from this evening that we are comforted to know that those professional standards continue to prevail for our nation. And that's an important signature associated with our work you know involvement the moral code which is leading the way. It is one of the premier colleges in the world. It is that because of the huge foundation that you have of late.
And when I arrived at Washington State University some three years ago it's abundantly clear that we had a crown jewel in our communications program and it was also clear that we have to polish that jewel because we had a number of pioneers who set a very solid foundation. And so I think Erica Austin for assuming the first Dean ship and Larry Pentel for serving as our founding dean of your moral college it is setting the standard for excellence in journalism Excellence in Broadcasting and it is because of you that we will make sure that that jewel is polished as brightly and as brilliantly as it possibly can. Thank you all very much for being here this evening. And now it's my pleasure to invite Dr. Warg Bailey our provost and executive vice president to the podium provost Bailey. Well good evening everybody certainly is a pleasure for me to stand before
you this evening. I thank Dean pincheck for the opportunity or the invitation to do so. And as President Floyd just mentioned that the corresponding occasion this time last year Larry and I think had yet to meet. It was my good fortune that we did. I hope he feels the same way. Because certainly we are very fortunate to have him serving as the founding dean of the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication as many of you know of course this College of Communication did not just sort of originate. Last week last month or even last year in fact it has its roots in the 1920s when Washington's what was then Washington State College first offered what was referred to as a concentration in journalism. Over the decades communication of this concentration has grown and matured first into a department business school and now finally a college with superb faculty
degree programs and facilities. The Edward R. Murrow Award and symposium certainly epitomize many of the most important traditions of what is now Washington State University. The first of those traditions is that this symposium an award honors one of Washington State University's most distinguished graduates. Secondly the award from the symposium advanced the principles on which the Myrrha college is founded. And certainly those for which it stood namely truthfulness integrity and responsibility and then finally the Edward R. Murrow Award and symposium create the opportunity for our students to learn from our nation's most influential and respected journalists. And I hope that becoming viewed with the lofty and aspirational goals represented
by those journalists. So I said this evening I'm delighted to help celebrate the lifetime achievements of two highly Tanel talented journalists and I cannot best leave Mitt. I'm a big fan Deborah Amos and Judy Woodruff. We also on tonight the entrepreneurial accomplishments of Pro Publica represented this evening by Robin Fields. Collectively the work of Mrs. Imus. Ms Woodruff and pro-public public to ensure that we better understand this complex world to which President Floyd just alluded things. It is getting harder and harder to really sift through the chaff if you like and get to the get to the truth and know what to believe in and certainly in keeping with knowing what to believe and this sense of trust trustworthiness. That's a word I'd like to you
do ask me or join me in watching a tribute to the Merode tradition. Thank you very much. Edward R. Murrow grew up in a tiny Northwest Washington town. He began honing his skills as the star of his high school debate team. As a student at Washington State College and while working in Europe his leadership and ideals continue to take shape developing a new standard for journalism. They have a lot to live up to and trying to emulate. Edward R. Murrow who paved the way for epic broadcast journalist. And Murrow was an inspiration not just to his generation but to future generations of journalists to come. And for those of us who are lucky enough to work with him he was our mentor. He was a reporter with a conscience but accuracy fairness and the
courage to face down pressure from government from big business pressure from power is the sure sign of a good journalist. His fresh eyes his eloquence and his willingness to go in harm's way made him a reporter's reporter. And I can think of no higher tribute I think of Edward R. Murrow. As the founding father of our profession. Murrow joined CBS in 1935 and was soon their European director in London. He brought rural work to reduce American living rooms. How. Does that work. I was thinking. That. There are no words to describe the thing that is happening. He was a progressive. He experimented with television. I think the popular phrase is he pushed the envelope. He did things that hadn't been done before and he did them successfully from here at now on the radio to see it now on television. Murrow expanded journalistic horizons investigating the plight of migrant workers and standing up to Senator
Joseph McCarthy. I just happened to be the one guy who was the focal point for Murrow had gone ahead. You know when confronting my character and I thank God for that I admire most of all the fact that Edward R. Murrow was an ordinary man and as an ordinary man confronted with extraordinary evil and extraordinary challenges in his professional life he and many of the Maaro boys came out on the right side of history. Merle left CBS in 1961 becoming the head of the United States Information Agency for the Kennedy administration. He was knighted by the Queen of England and in 1964 was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom with distinction. A pioneer in education through mass communication and to. His endeavor the conviction that truth and personal integrity are being. Irving Slaters of man
and nation. Raro sets a standard he says. That's the kind of bar you need to reach for. I find myself more and more asking Ed Murrow where are you now that we need you to help us sort out the uncertain at best and dangerous at worst times we live in. We don't know where journalism is going right now but we do know that we must adhere to the standards that Ed Murrow stood for that hit Ed Murrow in many cases virtually invented. If journalism is going to survive and Murray said it best of all there is a great and perhaps decisive battle to be fought. He put it against ignorance intolerance and indifference. This weapon of television and radio can be so used. But.
Not. Again. As someone who worked at CBS and had that moral legacy steeped into his veins I'm very proud to be able to stand here and say that I am the dean of the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication. I'm also very proud that this year we have moved our two public broadcasting stations and Northwest Public Radio under the college to help facilitate the implementation of that legacy and enable our students to better learn on the job how to follow in the footsteps of an Edward R. Murrow. I'm also proud that we have Robert Moore in the audience tonight who you were introduced to at the dinner. But I would like to because he is his legacy and his model is so important for all of us who are faculty in this college. I'd like to once
more recognize him and he didn't realize this is coming but I'd like to invite Ellen McDonnell. McDonnell excuse me from National Public Radio the head of News at National Public Radio up to present another little token. On behalf of National Public Radio are more than 700 Navy stations and more than 27 million weekly listeners. I'd like to present to you Robert Maat with a token of our appreciation for the formative role you played in the earliest days of National Public Radio. Your work at NPR national educational radio came at a pivotal time in the history of public broadcasting. We thank you for the role you played in the establishment of the long term vision and structure of today's NPR. Your devotion to the
people and craft of public radio indeed and all public broadcasting are part of the fabric of our industry's history. In honor of your contributions we'd like to present you with the NPR Livio internet radio. The first Internet radio designed specifically for the public radio audience the radio features the live streams of thousands of radio stations including more than 1000 NPR stations streams an 800 public radio podcasts. As you listen to it you'll hear that the vision you had more than four decades ago has taken root and bears fruit every day. Please accept it with our deepest thanks. This is a surprise. Thank you very much. Earlier this evening I made a few
comments and I just want to reflect momentarily about the fact that educational institutions such as Washington State University are the reason that we have a communication system that we have. It's far from perfect. It needs to be improved. It can be improved. It will be improved by the students and the faculty and staff at the Murrow College of Communication at Washington University. Thank you again. Let me let that sink in a radio excuse me here a radio that carries nine hundred stations What was it a thousand stations streams 800 public radio podcasts. Things really are changing. And it's for someone who used was staggered by the idea of a fax. It's quite simply media is
the media is transforming microphones are. We have a floppy microphone there that really epitomizes the way media is transforming this idea of transformational media. And because media is transforming in so many new ways we decided this year that it was time to acknowledge these changes and honor these changes. So this year we've created the Edward R. Murrow Award for media entrepreneurship. And that first media entrepreneurship award goes to the online and pure lottery prize winning as of last week. News organization investigative news organization Pro Publica pro Bob Liga we have a brief video about what they are where they've come from and where they're taking. Established in 2007 Pro Publica is independent nonprofit NEWSROOM aims
to stimulate positive change through the tradition of investigative journalism led by some of the nation's most distinguished editors Pro Publica adheres to the standards of journalistic integrity and upholds the Murro legacy with its persistence and revealing intolerable practices and providing the public with important stories. Stories with moral force. With multiple honors and awards. Pro Publica was recently bestowed a 2010 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The first ever online journalism establishment to achieve such an honor. Pro Publica is innovative enterprise truly represents journalism in the public interest. Fields representing pro-public a senior rep. Microphone please. There we go. Please join me in watching a tribute to our
lifetime achievement award Judy Woodruff. Public broadcasting I'm Deborah Amos and Deborah Amos has given voice to many of the world's events large and small for nearly four decades. NPR's business news starts with a heads up for credit card users. In that time she has worked as a correspondent for both television and radio predominantly for ABC News and National Public Radio. Aleppo in northern Syria it has prided itself on its food and now it's a destination for adventurous food tourists as well as for NPR's Deborah Amos. The romance begins at the outdoor morning radishes as big as Apple. This city surrounded by Olive not fruit orchards is famous for a love of eating much of her life has been spent in foreign countries. My first foreign assignment I was a producer for Robert Siegel. We went to
Israel. It was 1981 and it was a revelation to me and I knew at that time that this was what I really wanted to do. By the next year I was a producer and we did two months of coverage of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and that was a life changing event. Another two years went by before I moved to the Middle East and that was the event that really shaped my career. We turn now to one of the most neglected consequences of the war in Iraq the humanitarian crisis that's been unfolding since the American invasion four and a half years ago. Deb Amos is one of the few American journalists to cover this story. She's just back from Syria Lebanon and Jordan. Her field trip to the region to report on the refugees. Welcome to you both. Thank you. Just me a human face to these people. Who are they. So many of them Bill are the doctors the professors the
architects the intellectuals the poets the plight of Iraqi refugees is a story she has reported on since 2006. It has been a difficult story to bring to light. These people had run under death threats you know seen their children raped had extortion threats had guns pointed to their heads and it took a long time for me to get in to be able to tell the stories that I wanted to tell to get people to trust me enough to to give me those stories. Those stories now fill the pages of Amos's recently published book eclipse of the Sunnis her years of covering international news gave her a unique perspective on American's news consumption. It's hard for me to accept the fact that Americans don't pay attention. I know they don't. And so I'm trying to get out there and and shout and point and jump up and down. And so you really need to know about this. This is this is important.
Another concern is the effect of new media on international news coverage. You can't blog for news. It costs money to put correspondents on the road. And that the big newspapers are still spending that money. But for how long. And so that NPR can hold that line can still send foreign correspondents out into the field. It is a very good thing. You know Google is an aggregator and can take all the best sources and put them in one place so that you can read them. But what happens when those news sources begin to fall apart financially. You can't aggregate nothing. You have to come to some resolution about this. Deborah Amos you get the last word. Thank you very much. For nearly 30 years Judy Woodruff has been a respected broadcast journalist on the National Television News daj working for NBC CNN and PBS.
I'm Judy Woodruff on the next news hour. Rebuilding Haiti after the earthquake and bringing down Peru's high death rate for mothers in childbirth. That's Wednesday on the PBS NewsHour. Getting to the co-anchor chair of the PBS Newshour was not always an easy road. So I flew down to Atlanta in spring of my senior year interviewed with several news directors and was hired as a newsroom secretary. And I kept pestering the news director to let me go out on some stories. And the answer inevitably was we already have a woman reporter. We don't need another one. But I was persistent in the anchor chair or in the field much of Woodruffs career has focused on political reporting. The second day I was there sent me to cover the Georgia state legislature so it was an incredible break for me to get to do that. After five years of covering Georgia politics went to New York and interviewed with the networks and was offered a job at NBC and happened to be covering somebody I had gotten to know as governor of
Georgia Jimmy Carter. And because I happened to know these folks I kept saying to NBC we need to watch this guy. And then when he won my boss call me up finally. And said you're going to the White House. It was baptism by fire. Judy Woodruff NBC News with the president near Santa Barbara. It is fire. That gives metal it strengthen its edge. That baptism by fire may have done the same for Woodruff since leaving NBC. She has often filled the anchor seat for both PBS and CNN. Thank you for joining us away from the camera. She serves on the boards of many philanthropic organizations and is a founding co-chair for the International Women's Media Foundation one of the things I've tried to do along the way is to focus on opportunities for younger women journalists especially outside the United States. It's all about making sure that is. Other countries are wrestling with what kind of press they're going to have and what kind of free press they're going to have that women are given an opportunity.
Hello I'm Judy Woodruff. Earlier this year we introduced you to the most diverse generation in our history. Some of America's 42 million young people between the ages of 16 and 25. Their hopes dreams struggles and views about the world they will inherit. At the same time she's very interested in young Americans and their opportunities. And I just want to make sure that young people who are interested in journalism know there's a place for them. It may not look exactly like it does today. Newspapers may not look the same. Television may not look the same. The internet isn't going to look the same but that there will always be a need for reporters for journalists who can go behind the scenes ask tough questions make it all clear and more understandable. That's. What it's all about. On stage for the presentation will your award
that we have the ROTC guy here because these things are really heavy. But someone who has worked with Deborah for more years than either of us want to think about this is a special pleasure for me to present this award to them. And as someone who has been a fan of of Judy Woodruff and the news for so many years it is equally a pleasure to try to offer this very heavy plaque.
Congratulations to all of you tonight. We're going to explore the ethics and responsibility in a world for journalism and media are changing very very quickly. Our panel this evening includes tonight's Merle award recipient Robin Fields of pro Publica. Deborah Amos from NPR. Judy Woodruff PBS along with Dean pentad. So quickly it's moving so quickly that no one's even sure where they are supposed to be. As you heard before in the tribute to Edward R. Murrow the legacy of Murrow is alive in journals. And certainly we'd like to think it's alive in this college ethics responsibility solid reporting solid analysis fairness all of that is critical to journalism but as journalism the platforms that journalism is delivered on change the standards and
practices of journalism changed certainly all of us over the years have seen various internal practices around journalism change. I can remember a time when we were not allowed to use music and stories on on network television. I can remember a time when if you weren't in that town when you did your sign off even though you'd been there all day shot the story and you've gone back to the hotel you could not use that town as your sign. Now music is a staple of network news. Now people are signing off and doing stories from the other side of the world about countries that they've never been to. I want to talk a little bit tonight about how these standards are changing how the practice of journalism is changing and the ethical and other kinds of issues that arise in that process. One of the things that has changed certainly is Twitter. I'm told at last count we have hundreds of Twitter posts
about these posters that the right word twit twitters tweets right. Sorry hundreds of tweets about the various sessions we've had today. Judy I know that you do have a Twitter account. I have a Twitter account and one of the issues when journalists Twitter is personal biases. And I notice when I look at yours your personal biases come through very clearly. Let me cite 8:42 p.m. April 5th Duke and Coach K on top making all Blue Devils proud. Now where's where's the independence an unbiased approach. I challenge you to find another tweet that betrays any personal preference. You're sure no other no other is about the Blue Devils.
In looking at your Twitter account clearly you use this and I want to talk about this. You use this in two ways. One it would seem to give give a lead on what's going to be on the show that night to give people insight into what you're reporting and to give them a little sense of you personally. How do you how do you manage. How do you avoid aside from the Blue Devils. How do you avoid letting your personal biases or even a little hint to how you feel about a story. Well first of all I have to say how thrilled I am to be here. What a thrill. I know all three of us are absolutely thrilled to be here. This is an extraordinary honor for us to be things in connection with Edward R. Murrow at this fantastic University. And I know that that Robert and Deborah will speak for themselves. But it is it's just we we're all pinching ourselves because of the icon that this man. Is and ref and everything he represents. But to answer your question I'm
still learning how to tweet it. It is something that the. Then the news our believes is an important thing for our on our our hour on air folks to do to try to talk about what we're working on and to do and frankly to bring attention to the work that we're doing. Why are we doing it. Because we look around in every medium every news medium out there now is is using the social the social media. And so we're doing it for that reason. Some of us it's taking us longer it's not natural that the tweeting I will be candid with you is the hardest thing for me to do because what I'm told by our social media counselor a young woman we've just hired who is wonderful is that we need to show a little of what we think about a story not personal view but but just something that acts that that if
you will raises a little shows a little leg in a in a in the best sense of the term. We didn't warn them that there would be no deaths. But that's not easy to do. In fact it's very difficult for me to do because I've grown up I've spent my last 40 years sticking to the story and to be told all of a sudden that now I'm supposed to say something that expresses who I am and I tweeted from Pohlman earlier tonight. I said how thrilled I was to be here and how much you know how exciting this is. But that's about all. I hope your personal is it. I hope you used hashtag Murro Ted. Robin a new York Times reporter last week tweeted Toyota socks are appropriate. Not at all. That's I think in some.
Sometimes we forget that Twitter is publication. Email is publication. Facebook is publication and I think that kind of editorializing really undermines your ability to circle back around and report a story with somebody not feeling you've made up your mind before you went in. I I personally would wouldn't touch that with a ten foot pole. I don't maybe I'm behind the times but I don't like that I have to flag something good when we're talking about new jobs for our students a new career of social media counseling. Now there's a career. Think about. That's not her exact right. Well a slightly older folks and some day social media therapist although the close relation or perhaps the precursor the tweeting is blogging and so many journalists these days have blogs.
Now there are various pitfalls of blogs. One of them is showing in a little leg of course. The other is the presence of politically driven blogs and how those impact on journalism. Judy you've been attacked by conservative Web sites news Buster daughterboard didn't like the segment you did on the military's Don't Ask Don't Tell policy. PBS is ombudsman Michael Devlin said in his blog that that news Buster blog had a point there were no voices of opposition on the panel. I don't want to get into that story. But how does it affect your reporting to know that there are people out there on blogs waiting to pounce if you have a misstep. You know that's the history. As long as I've been in journalism there's been people who were critical and people a few people positive but a lot of people critical that's the way it works. It used to be they would call you up. I remember taking calls from people at the station the CBS affiliate in Atlanta back in the early 1970s people would write
letters. They continue to write letters and at some point it all became email and now it's a flood of e-mail. And in my view you can't let that affect what you do. You you focus on the story. You try to do the best job you can you try to get the facts straight. You try to be as balanced as you can be to represent all sides depending on what the story is and trying to represent all sides in that particular look at it. But at the end of the day you can't spend all your time worrying and responding to each and every criticism. I think we need to be aware of who's out there watching and listening and reading us but we can't be so hyper reflexive that we are that we just become reactive all the time we have to do our jobs. And I feel very strongly about that. Deb you cover what has been called the third the third rail of American journalism the Middle East.
And by that it's a reference to the third rail and subways were all the electricity is touch it and die. Is that why your Twitter account has eight followers and no post. Hope because they don't have enough time although I am because I cover the Middle East. I'm actually very aware of what I do have. I'm I'm pretty active on Facebook. I join nothing. I have recently heard about the Republican Guard in Iran stopping people in cars and using you know a computer to actually look at their Facebook pages right there and finding out if you know if you have if you are i love never Salten if you're a follower of that particular page on your Facebook account you are in big trouble. And it was a real sort of wake up call for me about you know I have to be a little careful because of where I go. I did an interview in Turkey a while ago with a very suspicious group and when it was
over they said to me you know we Googled you. I said Really. And he said do you want to read it. I said No thank you I know who I am and I think you do. I mean where where I report. I need to be very aware of my public persona and what that represents to people because I know they are going to google me they are going to look me up and they will make judgments about whether I can get an interview or I cannot based on how they perceive how I present myself in public which is a wider array than it's ever been before. Robyn pro-public it is a first and foremost a web based organization we work in partnership with newspapers and with television station but it is web based. How do you. There is a blurring of lines between what's a blog What's a journalism organization and how they had out a pro Publica define itself and distinguish itself and or does it.
I don't know that we define or distinguish ourselves by saying we're a blog we're an online organization or anything like that. I think where we try to distinguish ourselves is with the standards and type of work that we take on the kinds of stories that we do are instantly recognizable as pro-public stories. And I think that we are kind of platform neutral and we do do a considerable amount of blogging now but we do investigative blogging and I think the standards that we apply from a factual standpoint from a credibility standpoint they are worked into every single kind of piece short long audio video any type of piece that we do. One of the other things that's changing in journalism is the injection of the journalist into the
story as part of the story. News ago why do a television story that you didn't even do a standup because it really didn't add to the story. Now reporters are injecting themselves. I mean examples like Sanjay Gupta and Haiti and Iraq. Is there room for this do you continue do you think this is a good development. I actually think that started a long time ago our number when I was at NBC in 19 70s and into the early 80s being told that I needed to do more stand ups. I think that's been with us for some time. And I think what we have today is just kind of you know a super version of that where reporters are not just doing a standup where they are maybe there for 10 seconds on camera but you see them participating in the story and sort of involving themselves in the story. You know I think there are some instances where that's important if you're doing it
maybe if you're doing an investigative assignment on television and and you're trying to pin somebody down in an interview that becomes part of the story that you're telling. But then there are other instances where I think it's totally unnecessary and inappropriate. So I think you have to make these judgments you know as they come along. But I do think that something that's been with CNN that's been with us from everyone. Well it's it's not such an issue in radio it it really doesn't belong. You know we have our hosts and they have more of a personality than correspondents. I work for the foreign desk at NPR and we aren't allowed to use. You know I'm in in our pieces. Some other desks allow it. But you know these things are looked at pretty rigorously and I don't think that we've fallen victim in the news programs. You know we have the car guys. So there's a lot of personality on the radio but they're not doing the news.
You cover a lot of stories that are heartland in our stories that move an individual as a human being I was at. Something like this at Berkeley a couple of years ago and a Washington Post reporter who just came back and was asked did your attitude toward Iraq change the for you from when when you arrived to where you are now. And her answer was I have a very platonic relationship with war. Is that possible. Well wait I don't even know what that means. You know I have been a war correspondent for most of my career. And you are always in a heightened reality. There's no doubt about that there's something very seductive about being in worse situations because you see the worst of human beings which is what you expect. But you also see the best of human beings which is what you don't expect and it's what draws you back this
this heightened reality. So platonic I'm not altogether sure. I think there is a moment where you think OK maybe my luck has run out and I really should stop doing this and leave it to two other people to do that. There's only so many years you can go on being in that heightened reality and come back whole that it does begin to weigh on you because you do you do take all of those those traumas you carry them around with you there's no doubt about that. So platonic not so much. We're all the world. Some of his greatest work was driven by a level of emotion anger. McCarthy grapes of wrath. Let's go. How much does emotion or at least the desire to get the guy right. Investigative journalism. Well I think that there is a there's a core of outrage that is at the heart of every great investigative story.
I don't think you start out at the beginning having made up your mind that you're going to get any buddy or anything. But I think that as you discover things you know the kinds of stories that we choose are the kinds that make our blood boil and make us think gosh somebody needs to talk about this as a subject ripe for change. And I think that that is what impels a you know strong investigation forward. Always always always is that feeling. Christiane Amanpour in the video before was one of our honorees in the past and certainly she is known for among many things taking on face to face. President Clinton over Sarajevo should journalist Judy should journalists try to drive policy. No I don't believe that I but I but I believe there is a place there. When we talk about journalists who are we talking about I mean there are journalists who spend their careers writing with opinion and dry and trying to drive
decision making through what they write. There are other journalists I mean that the journalism iCracked we practice at the news hour is not that kind of journalism. I would I would not at all be comfortable I would not do the kind of journalism where I would try to direct or get some public official to be in a certain position and I'm not going to and I'm not speaking about Christiane because I don't know the circumstances that interview. But but the kind of journalism I do is not is not that. On the other hand there are people who are journalists who write columns who do opinion for a living. And I think they're in a different position. Throw out a couple of ethical challenges these days. Not only is there an issue of what do we report but what do we not report. We as journalists learn a lot of things that for whatever reason we don't report. When is it legitimate. Clearly Kennedy's liaison was the classic
example from the 60s. More recently we have Tiger Woods and it's both in bed but also on the golf course throwing golf clubs that kind of thing that was never reported. When should we not report. Well I you know I'm because I'm I'm not a domestic correspondent. These issues are you know entertainment for me not something I have to think about when I go into the newsroom as a foreign correspondent as a war correspondent. You're wrestling more with you know I know the troops are moving at X amount of time what do I do about that. I think that there is a famous column by a New York Times reporter who said if I know what the enemy knows it I might as well report it because actually that helps the military rather than hurts the military. I think there is one particular case and I can imagine where a reporter knew when the Marines were landing in Mogadishu and normal behavior
would would say to not report. She did. Did that affect the operation one way or the other. You're given photos of a Marine unit involved of a massacre in Iraq let's say Afghanistan. That unit still in the field. Do you use the photos. Well we've had an occasion of exactly. This case with Kevin Sites who actually photographed a soldier executing a prisoner. And in fact Interesting enough the commander knew exactly what he was photographing and allow those photographs to be broadcast. Karen tells the story that his problem was with his desk back in New York wanting to put sensational pictures on the air a head of what he could report. So I think in some ways you have to watch out for your desks back at home if you're not comfortable. The military was perfectly fine. They may have come to regret that decision.
But those those pictures went on the air as those soldiers who were still in the theater like to bring a couple of our visiting experts in. Mike Shepherd you might. You are right wing militia group that you've been cultivating. Tells you to have a reporter in front of City Hall at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday. What do you do. Show up. We show up and see what happens. Tell me more do you tell the police. Probably not. Do you make sure you have a photographer there. Absolutely. And so you shoot whatever happens. Thank you. Rufus Do you agree. Absolutely. I would do that I would do the exact same thing. I mean it comes it comes back to once again our role of speaking truth to power.
So absolutely. Is there ever a time Robin when you get that kind of inside information that may lead to some act of violence that you do tell the police. I think that there have been situations where people have said I'm going to kill myself or I'm going to tell you that they're going to commit an act of violence where. Yeah I think common decency is a good rule of thumb in most cases. And it would be the guiding principle there as well. I think that you're not ever going to be wanting to be in a situation where you're withholding information that could save people. I think this is your case over there was a situation which you don't have any information to either give or withhold. You have what might be vague suspicions floating around in your mind about what might happen but if somebody tells you that they're they're going to do something then sure you act like a responsible citizen in addition to a journalist.
Judy in Washington it's a city that's run by leaks. There have been a number of famous cases recently of self-serving leaks that got reporters in trouble got people in the administration in trouble. When do you report that I've been leaked to because this person has an agenda. I think you should do that every chance you get. I mean I think I. Have been trained to abhor the anonymous leak. We know it happens that you know it happens all over the place. It's worse today than it's ever been. But I don't think that it's to be celebrated. I think in every instance it's our job to try to get these whoever it is who's giving his information to go on the record to give us or at least which is what a number of news organizations have done has adopted a policy of characterizing why that person won't permit their name to be used. Clearly
though Larry there are instances where information is so important. It's it's it's important to disclose an activity that is that is going on and that has happened for for any variety of reasons. It's the overwhelming public good involved and that person needs to be protected for one reason or another. But those those are special instances and you know we have to make you know that's why we spend years doing this and we've learned to use exercise judgment in these situations. COSTELLO President Clinton the other day said that careless speech is endangering the president. It's endangering other public officials. Do you have a lot of melting pot. Do you not report. Hate speech. Is there a time when you say I'm not going to give this person a voice. I think you have an obvious truth. And so you have to.
That was said. If it's just random hate talk. Where's the news. And. You have to have to you have to look for the truth if there's a grain of truth in some stuff report. But I don't think we have to report just vitriol New Jersey Teachers Union wrote a letter recently that said that it would be essentially and I'm paraphrasing essentially a good thing if the governor were dead. Steve that's more than public radio. You get that same kind of letter from the Oregon Teachers Association to your broadcast. I certainly report on it because I think it's newsworthy. I think it's putting something within context. It is obviously an important story. Is that a threat. I'm not exactly sure. Is it intemperate. Absolutely.
But to me it would be newsworthy. Blogs other people's blogs are increasingly one of the earliest sessions I showed the Doonesbury cartoon where the reporter is saying well I seen the blogs and I check the Twitter accounts and there's no truth to the story. Needless to say that's an extreme situation. But when you use other people's blogs as sources of information I think that you can use them. You know all the time to for me but not as sole sources of information. I think you have to do your own legwork and you just as you can't trust what's what you read on Wikipedia. As you know as if it were handed down on tablets you have to you have to go do your own work. There's no shortcut because it's in a blog or because it's it's been written somewhere else. I mean I wouldn't I wouldn't take it from a textbook I wouldn't take it any any more than anything
else so why would I just assume that a blog is right source that source again. If you don't trust a blog how do they trust an organization like Pro Publica that's getting money from a particular cloned foundation in this case progressive. Well I think that that's a good question and something that we are asked quite a bit and that's you know how much do you reflect what may or may not be the agenda of your founding donors. And I think that we certainly were established based on the idea that we would be independent and that they wouldn't have a role in deciding what stories we cover and how we cover them. And that's certainly been the case. But ultimately our independence is something that we've got to prove every day and that you're going to evaluate every day by going on our site and checking us out.
Our credibility is you know built brick by brick brick story by story just like everybody else's. The the AP reported last week that that right wing foundations and lobbying groups have set up news organizations have set up online sites that are reporting news and in many cases not revealing their sources of funding. Does that make a difference whereas one of our local journalists let me go back to my life. Does that make a difference that a right wing organization is funding a news organization that is not revealing its funding. Would you trust that organization. My initial reaction was reaction would be deep skepticism. There was right wing left wing or neutral I mean you have to understand where they're coming from. Yet you know I published a newspaper that has been supported by private advertisers for 100 years. So do you you also are going to have occasion to
question how to what depth we're willing to cover things that may or may not be going well with an advertiser. And I think our panelists are right. We have to prove that independents every day Fred is worth from Caylee. Idaho reporter dot Tom is one of these organizations and they were recently banned from the press gallery at the Idaho state legislature by the news organization. Those who run the gallery. Is that fair. Probably not. We had our own experience last week. We were banned from a Tea Party gathering. Because of our reporting on their prior meeting where they called for the hanging of Senator Patty Murray. And so we were then banned from subsequent Tea Party readings. And so I've been you know I don't think that's right. And we
eventually did get into that particular meeting but without cameras and the protests that we have your book that we have in the audience of a lady who runs a Seattle based blog where are you. I'm so I'm forgetting your name. No. No she hasn't. She didn't James anyone else in the audience two blogs wrote a blog. No. Well that's amazing. OK. Never mind that. I was curious what the perception of a blogger is of this idea of of us deciding what's a journalist. Debra in the Middle East. There are a plethora of blogs. You've been studying social media in Iraq and in Turkey the Egyptian blogosphere is very powerful and journalism in that part of the world is emerging. What defines a journalist in that way.
Well it gets a little tricky doesn't it. In places where the media has been constrained you do tend to look at the blogs for more information. I think to be able to be a consumer of both blogs and journalism you kind of have to know where each one of these places is in terms of you know media freedom. I have just recently discovered that there is more than two dozen Syrian bloggers. If you look at global voices you find there is more than you could imagine out there writing. I I find and these are new new people for me to look at. I find the blogs in the Middle East more informative more important for me to read than the the local press because they tend to be younger because they tend to be riskier in what they're willing to write about. You know I have to make calculations on how accurate how reliable I think they are but they usually reflect something that
I need to know. I've been out there long enough that I can make some judgments about them. But it's a very interesting new phenomenon. Blogger news organization politically motivated Kaiser pharmaceutical company or sorry Kaiser insurance company runs or fund something called Kaiser Health News which is a major source of health news in the U.S.. The credentials of the journalists who run it are impeccable. The board of directors is impeccable. Can we trust something that is primarily funded by an insurance company. I think that they've sort of disclosed where their money comes from. They've laid out where all their funding is coming from. And I think that they've allowed a degree of transparency and then I think you're going to judge their work by their work. Again story by story. Know what do you what do you think.
I feel exactly the same way. I mean I I happen to know a number of people who work there Susan dancer who used to be a regular on The News Hour is now involved. With that with that. Endeavor. And she is as you said highest most impeccable journalistic credentials. But like anything else you know and as Robin said earlier you don't take one organization and say well that's the whole story we're you know we're going with that. It's just not the way it works. I mean you you get multiple sources until you're comfortable. You have to be comfortable yourself. You know we're not in the business of just parroting what other people are saying. Ellen Adonal I think you try to correct family run by and shyster and insurance company which is remote from which it will move from but needless to say a source of funding is closely aligned with. The family foundation. So we.
Are now first of all I'll grant you that it's. OK if U.S. bank funds an entrepreneurial business news organization here in Washington State does that makes sense is that the same as a PBS or or euro zone could be. Everybody's owned by somebody ultimately and it could be I suppose you just need to see whether or not they're following the basic principles that those balances. There. Is transparency and this alone is should we be going first. What's the point. I'd like to take some questions from the audience. There are two microphones up there if you like to ask a question please go up to the mike and on this topic of entrepreneurial journalism and the changes. Did you you did some work for global quotes. Or do.
Reporters on global post are paid not you personally but those who are doing regular work on me personally are paid like a thousand dollars a month and a few bucks extra for a story and maybe a little bit of stuff. Are we moving toward a stage of slave journalism. No but what we are moving towards is experimentation in. Websites that pay for content. You know we for the last hundred years as Americans believe that news is free. And the problem is that it's not that somebody was always paying for our salaries and our travel and our ability to actually have a career. And so what Robyn's working on what was a global post is working on is a different model. And actually you know a thousand dollars if you do four pieces in in a month. The fee is 250 bucks. That's what I get when I write for them that's what everybody gets when they write for them.
So it's not that you're going to make a lot of money but it's the principle of being paid to write for the Web. And that's why I support them. Question of the audience. Yes. Do you think that Edward R. world would treat. Very good question. I wrote to one of you. Look if I'm tweeting I think morrow would know. Now there's a tweet. Said. But you know there's tweeting and then there's tweeting. So I'm doing I'm doing the shall we say the more the old fashioned kind of tweeting I certainly morose that a satellite has no conscience and it all comes down to the book the way we get the information out there whether it's through a mobile phone or television. Doesn't matter it's the quality of the journalism that we've heard a little bit of criticism about fact checking is this because. Media news media has become more reflexive in trying to
scoop each other on the stories trying to be the first one to have the story. And if so should we try to bring more reflective to news media and can we do that. Look I think there are skills fact checking. I find often working with younger researchers when you ask them to research a story they'll give you a pile of papers that they got from Google and I want them to go call somebody. And that skill seems you have to remind people that that's a skill. And if I could I would just add that. I mean journalism you know we've taken some real hits in the last decade or so and news organizations are down on resources. So in some instances if there's not as much fact checking it's because there aren't as many people to do the work that there used to be. That's not to say we shouldn't do what we absolutely should do it we shouldn't be going with any story until we're certain of it.
But you know we're there are fewer of us doing a lot of reporting and at some point the quality is going to suffer. And that's why it's important to have the kind of conversation that we're having. Gentlemen thank you. A couple of minor questions. Judy Woodruff one your transition from the maze the NBC ABC to PBS. What brought that about from a mainstream profit maybe journalism to nonprofit PBS. Are there any ethical professional conflicts that lead you to that. That's question one. Secondly I've been signing a petition for the last few months against the previous me to do. Well good morning Bill Moyers Journal and also the now. And Bill Moyers as we all know he's the one who challenges established moves and also challenges the establishment journalism.
Why do you well I'll take the second one first and that is I don't I can't answer that question. Those are decisions that are made at Public Broadcasting and they don't survey the rest of us in the in the public in the PBS universe to ask us our opinion. Clearly Bill Moyers has provided an enormous service over the years as and has done extraordinary work. But I'm afraid I cannot answer your question about why. Why did I leave NBC to go to the news hour in 1983. It's because I had been at NBC then for nine years and I was working for the Today show doing interviews out of Washington and I heard that my good friend Robin McNeil and Jim Lehrer were expanding the half hour report to an hour and they were looking for a Washington correspondent. And. And I after some long conversations with them I decided it was just too exciting an idea to pass up to be on the ground floor of this whole new thing in television
hour long evening news show that nobody else was doing. And we actually thought at that time that the networks would follow us. Didn't happen. But but it was just an it exciting thing a lot of my friends at the network told me I was crazy to do it. But in my mind and I still believe it was the best decision I ever made professionally. Your colleague Michael Clarke frontline see you see a wide product to this gentleman and the little rosewood of Idaho or whatever is likely to be either you or you a skin. That. Will look back. Hi my name is Cora and I'm a current senior of the morrow college. And I guess my questions for Miss Woodruff you talked about on the video to show the generation of getting the next generation to speak up. What is your opinion of getting my generation involved because from what I see MTV is a whole lot more important than national or
world news. Well that's a big subject and I won't I won't go on it at great length but I will say this that in traveling all over the country and we went to 17 states and 25 cities and interviewed ultimately over 500 young people in 2006 and then we went back last year and talked to young people affected by the recession. I find your generation much more engaged much more aware of what's going on in the world. Much more focused on the future and thinking about the role that they are going to play in the years to come in thinking about the kind of world that we have left I'm sure plenty of your generation likes to party and have a good time and watch MTV. But there is an astonishing number of you who are doing amazing things and working with AIDS babies in Africa working with homeless families in dark corners of this country. I just I'm I'm astonished every day by the amazing and wonderful things your generation is doing.
Gentlemen good to see you Miss Woodruff. I remember in December of 2003 when you hosted inside politics of CNN. I was a big fan of the show the day that Saddam Hussein was captured. You had a special show because there's big news of course and I think I'm paraphrasing the exact quote that you gave a strong impression and you thought the war was worth it because just because Saddam Hussein got captured and it was worth he didn't clarify that. And if so does seem to encourage you to be to give your opinion more. Or is that the way you really filter. I would just clarify that. And if it is a different policy from the News Hour and CNN In your opinion. Well I'll just say first of all I don't. I. I absolutely cannot imagine that I would have said anything like that. That would be so unlike anything I would do or say on the air. I was never advised by CNN to express my opinion if I had been I would have left CNN because that's not what I do.
I can't imagine that I would have said I don't obviously I don't remember exactly what was said on the air I have to go back and look at it but in no way can I imagine having you know having done that. Hi Tom Cole came from Northwest Public Radio. I just want to say we've got a trifecta of public persona us here and that just thrills me to death. And how about the women. And I just was waiting for somebody to mention it. But could I also say three women who were selected for their quality journalism not because they have women or anything else. Earlier you talking about stories that make your blood boil and it seems
currently that a lot of blood is boiling. In or just in general throughout the United States. I'm not sure about the world. But just your opinions on what stories that are most important now to showing how America is transforming itself in this very transformational age with transformational. Robin what is this stuff. I'm not sure that I can sort of pick out which stories I think are the most important because in some ways it's what's the most important story to you. What strikes a chord with you. We sort of focus more on stuff that zags when everybody else is zigging So we're not really following the waves of news in the way that we would if we were dealing with breaking stories. I certainly thought some of the explorations of the Tea Party movement are fascinating
and it is quite reminiscent of some of the stories that you saw in the early 90s about some of the anger bubbling up and frustration. And it's it's a hard thing to put your finger on what what's driving it all. And I think that I'll be very interesting very interested to see how that coverage evolves over time. And one I want to add to that you know I'm going to argue in the reverse. And that's because I am a foreign correspondent and because I've been so involved in you know covering the Iraq war I think in terms of international news in fact there's been a blood cooling and the Iraq war is off most radars Afghanistan people follow but not with the intensity that they did over the Iraq war. I find that disturbing because of the number of American troops who are involved there and are still involved in Iraq. It's it's an extraordinary number. And those families who are involved in this conflict of
course pay attention. But but I just find as as a general rule these days that domestic news takes precedent. And I think we are just in the cycle of that. It take a couple of more questions. We could go on all night I'm sure but take a few more and we will walk it out. Good evening as a distinguished journalist. I have a question about what your personal peak. Are you. You as a distinguished journalist then as a distinguished journalist See. THE WHOLE THING. TGR seen as distinguished. As you guys are distinguished journalists and working for television and television media. I know what your opinions are on the news the channels they use graphics sound effects all that heighten their news more than actual hard news stories. Well I can say as somebody who works for a program that runs as fast as we can in the opposite direction from that kind of
programming presentation production I should say production values that it's not something I'm personally comfortable with. But look what we have now. We have got choices. When you turn on the television when you turn to the internet listen to the radio there's a huge variety of choices a lot of them are not particularly. I think in choices but they're out there. And some people maybe enjoy getting their news that way. So I think if a rule of thumb should be if you hear music and the heightened sound effects it's not. Good. I'll. Talk. To. Our local affiliates whether they agree with it. COSTELLO And Fred to an extent yes. OK. Well the question. The anonymous nature of the Web does it help things or does it inflame
opinions and otherwise wouldn't you like to. Just get people to use your comments. I suspect it's probably a different answer domestically and internationally I think it's both. I mean I think some people use the web in order to they use it in a healthy way in order to get ideas out there and other people use it in a. In a in a supremely. And I guess there's there's an ongoing conversation going on now about commenting on newspaper Web sites and so forth about whether they'll let you comment anonymously. And then there's a lawsuit I think involving somebody who was unmasked recently. So I think that a judge yes a judge who is writing about a lawyer in his right hook court I think that in our stories typically one reason that we don't let people b be quoted anonymously
as it's not right to let people take cheap shots at other people and not put their names to them. So you know anonymous sources and we use them very very sparingly. There are areas that we report on where it's almost impossible to report on them if you completely bar the use of anonymous sources. But we use them on a prescribed in a prescribed way and only very very rarely. Sheri Fink story that won the Pulitzer Prize is no anonymous sources at all. I think that it's it's an interesting thing that we're dealing with that people can come in anonymously and can take those kind of shots at each other and you don't know who's making the comment. And you don't know why. But on the other hand I think that unfettered speech is hard for for folks like us to be against. At the same time. So it's a balancing act Deborah.
Any different from the international perspective. So. No not so much because there's a different relationship with blogs and comments. The more. You know respected ones are pretty good gatekeepers. The tweets the blog post that are coming out to be wrong. For example many of which were on all of those yes. But you know the people who were policing those Web sites for the most part knew who they were. You know in the beginning there was a flood of them. But I know that they were policed and I mean that in a journalistic way. And they were also policing rather well. That's true. Well I will take two more questions. So. I've been sort of detecting this very very subtle undercurrent over the course of today with regard to the news that it doesn't matter whether it's print or broadcast that
a lot of it's about the bottom line and what kind of news sells. So do you think that the notion that we need to make news so ends up maybe damaging the product in a way and this applies probably more to do commercial radio or television than public television or radio. But does that zest to make money and to make sure that you're appeasing the advertisers. Or do you think in any way affect the end product or the way that it's covered. You got that from today just a little bit. Just a very subtle undercurrent every now and again making a lot of money at NPR. Yeah. Pro-public I meant more in the commercial realm of broadcasting and less in the public realm. Look at it it completely depends on the situation because frankly you know I worked for years for a local station in a. Local market in Atlanta CBS affiliate where I was covering the state legislature. Nobody ever came up to me and said you know you need to spice up your stories
to increase the ratings. Fast forward 10 years. A lot of local stations around the country were being told they needed to increase the number the story count in their newscast and they need to cover kinds of stories that they haven't maybe covered before. So these are things that have changed over over time. Absolutely there's more pressure. To. Do. To appeal to the right. Well we're in sort of a strange situation because we don't propose and we don't really sell anything but we do want our stories to have impact and to have impact you have to have an audience readership and you have to get the story out. So we do have an interest in that. I don't know that we have any more interest than we would have had five years ago. I think we always have to have an audience to make a difference. Last question I was just wondering what
do you think the role of blogs and social media in their perspective is in with fact checking maybe not specifically here for the U.S. to where information in reporting news is more free but specifically overseas to where the media is more controlled by the government. So for the real story you have to sort of rely on those who actually are willing to go out there and risk their necks and also little blog I don't know I you know I've been thinking all night about sharing a story that's not directly related to your point and that is I had an experience on Facebook today that I've never had before and that is I pretty much say yes to most people who asked to friend me on Facebook and I've thought of it as a professional site and I got an e-mail from somebody today that said guess what one of your friends is a fan of Hitler and you have to go look it up and think about unfriending this person. And I did. I looked it up and he's got the happy birthday Hitler and everybody on his site has said happy birthday and it
was great. I thought this one I've been thinking about. And is this an NPR reporter friend. You know it's somebody from the Middle East who has created a pro Hitler site. But I I didn't really think about that when I was. I friended him and I immediately unfriended him for the very reasons that I spoke about earlier which is in some ways your Facebook page says a lot about you. It's easy to look you up and see who you are. You know we are we are actually you know self-selecting for intelligence agencies by giving quite a bit of data about ourselves. Even if you don't put your birthday and you know your relationships on there just by who you've who you're your sort of connections are but I'd never run into a situation like that before where I had to think wait a minute. It is not so smart to just open it up to to anybody because I would not have noticed that I was a friend with a Hitler fan. If
if somebody else hadn't told me to unfriend this person which I did today that didn't answer your question. But it's just been on my mind all day because. Why would. I. Get one last question. This is for Deborah as the spouse of the service member that's going. To her. I would just like to know how we can get across to people the human face. It's very rare when my husband was over there. I listen to him more than I do at the news because he he became really close to her family over there. They love just like we do here. I really think that the media is going in the wrong direction. Now maybe I'm sitting here but
you know I just I think that it's just they're just pounding away at how much money we're spending this this and this and this and you know we went over there and we opened up this can of worms. And I think that we really owed them. I feel like we owe them to to rebuild them something that they can build themselves back up. But I when I'm really wanting to know is how you think that we can get across that people not that the blood necessarily bloodshed and everything but you know the traditions they have what these people are all about. Well I can't say that I would disagree with you because I wrote a whole book on this very very topic and I'd like to think that the NPR team who went to Baghdad try their hardest to do exactly that. I have to say when I look at the list of books about Iraq today I'm
pretty much the only woman in the lineup and you know the others are called Kaboom and you know Marines in Fallujah there are hardly any books about civilians. It's a little bit better in Afghanistan just because it's been longer. But you know we we haven't written enough in Iraq it was partly because it was so hard to do because it became so dangerous to get out to do it and it's hard. It's hard work it's in some ways it's easier to cover soldiers than it is to cover Iraqi civilians or Afghan civilians. You have to know a lot to be able to do it. So what can I say. I of course I agree with you. It's the kind of thing that I try to do in my own reporting. With that let me close. I can't say enough about this. How the three of you so embody the legacy of great journalism of ethics responsibility and a view of the future of journalism that
it is all not all dark clouds and gloom and doom. There are some great things going on out there. There are some great new directions that journalism is going and thanks to all of you for sitting through this. For being here tonight with the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication on Lawrence. Worldgroup
- Program
- Coverage of the 2010 Edward R. Murrow Symposium with Robin Fields, Judy Woodruff, and Deborah Amos
- Contributing Organization
- Northwest Public Broadcasting (Pullman, Washington)
- AAPB ID
- cpb-aacip/296-89r22hqx
If you have more information about this item than what is given here, or if you have concerns about this record, we want to know! Contact us, indicating the AAPB ID (cpb-aacip/296-89r22hqx).
- Description
- Program Description
- Coverage of the 36th annual Murrow Symposium at Washington State University's Edward R. Murrow School of Communication. Lawrence Pintak hosts a chat with award recipients: Robin Fields, accepting the Edward R. Murrow Award for Online Entrepreneurship on behalf of ProPublica, and Lifetime Achievement Award winners Judy Woodruff and Deborah Amos. Discussion topics include the role of social media in news reporting, and ethical case studies. Audience questions are answered. Also, Ellen McDonald of National Public Radio honors Robert Mott. Founded in 1973, the Edward R. Murrow Symposium is an annual event at Washington State University created in honor of alumni and news icon Edward R. Murrow. Prominent journalists and others are invited to discuss pertinent media issues.
- Created Date
- 2010-00-00
- Asset type
- Program
- Genres
- Event Coverage
- Topics
- Journalism
- Rights
- No copyright statement in content.
- Media type
- Moving Image
- Duration
- 01:44:41
- Credits
-
-
Guest: Woodruff, Judy
Guest: Amos, Deborah
Guest: Fields, Robin
Host: Pintak, Robert
- AAPB Contributor Holdings
-
KWSU/KTNW (Northwest Public Television)
Identifier: 0303 (Northwest Public Television)
Format: DVCPRO
Duration: 01:40:00
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- Citations
- Chicago: “ Coverage of the 2010 Edward R. Murrow Symposium with Robin Fields, Judy Woodruff, and Deborah Amos ,” 2010-00-00, Northwest Public Broadcasting, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed December 27, 2024, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-296-89r22hqx.
- MLA: “ Coverage of the 2010 Edward R. Murrow Symposium with Robin Fields, Judy Woodruff, and Deborah Amos .” 2010-00-00. Northwest Public Broadcasting, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. December 27, 2024. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-296-89r22hqx>.
- APA: Coverage of the 2010 Edward R. Murrow Symposium with Robin Fields, Judy Woodruff, and Deborah Amos . Boston, MA: Northwest Public Broadcasting, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-296-89r22hqx