August 26, 2009

MEDIA CONTACT: Nick Massella
202-994-3087; massella@gwu.edu

ETHICS AND EXCELLENCE IN JOURNALISM FOUNDATION RENEWS SUPPORT FOR GW'S KALB REPORT SERIES

GW Global Media Institute, National Press Club and Harvard's Shorenstein Center to Launch 16th Season of Highly Acclaimed Public Television Series on Democracy and the Press
October 5, 2009

WASHINGTON - For the seventh consecutive year, Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation has awarded The George Washington University a grant to underwrite The Kalb Report, the highly acclaimed public television series on democracy and the press moderated by renowned journalist Marvin Kalb. The Kalb Report is produced by The GW Global Media Institute, the National Press Club and Harvard's Shorenstein Center. With the first taping of the 2009-2010 academic year slated for Oct. 5, The Kalb Report will enter its 16th season.

"Each year, we seek to award grants to journalistic organizations that represent the core ideals and mission of our organization," said Bob Ross, President and CEO of Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation. "Year after year, the integrity and educational value of The Kalb Report series continues to merit our Foundation's support, and we are pleased to have our name associated with such an exemplary program."

Produced in the main ballroom of the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., each Kalb Report is presented before a live audience comprising several hundred college students and National Press Club members. Since 1994, guests have included Katie Couric, Christiane Amanpour, the late Walter Cronkite, Roger Ailes, Ken Burns, Thomas Friedman, Jim Lehrer, Bill O'Reilly, Helen Thomas, Dan Rather, Bob Woodward, Hillary Clinton and Nobel Prize winner Eli Wiesel.

"Thanks to the ongoing support of Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, The Kalb Report series has helped lead the public dialogue on the transformation of journalism in the 21st Century and the evolving role of the press in our society," said Michael Freedman, founding executive director of the Global Media Institute and GW professor of media and public affairs. "We are deeply appreciative and extremely proud of this unique partnership that brings together students, professionals and national audiences to explore issues at the center of democracy and the press."

Since its debut in 1994, GW has produced 64 Kalb Report forums. The series is distributed by Oklahoma Educational Television Authority and American Public Television, and has now been seen on some 200 public television stations with additional airings on New England Cable News. The series also airs nationally on Sirius-XM Satellite Radio and locally in Washington on Federal News Radio (1500-AM).

Series moderator Marvin Kalb is a James Clark Welling Presidential Fellow at The George Washington University and Edward R. Murrow Professor Emeritus at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. Over the course of his distinguished 30-year career in broadcast journalism, Kalb served as chief diplomatic correspondent for both CBS News and NBC News, and moderator of Meet the Press. He went on to serve as the founding director of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. Among his many honors are two Peabody Awards, the DuPont Prize from Columbia University, the 2006 Fourth Estate Award from the National Press Club and more than a half-dozen Overseas Press Club awards.

Executive Producer Michael Freedman is a 30-year broadcast journalist, network executive, university administrator and professor. He has served as general manager of CBS Radio Network News, managing editor for the broadcast division of United Press International, leadership press secretary to U.S. House Majority Whip David E. Bonior (D-Mich.) and vice president for communications at The George Washington University. Freedman and his teams have received more than 85 honors for journalistic excellence including 14 Edward R. Murrow Awards from the Radio Television News Directors Association. The GW Global Media Institute was recently awarded a 2009 Gold World Medal in the New York Festivals International Radio Awards competition for its centennial tribute to Murrow. 

Producer Heather Date serves as associate director of GW's Global Media Institute. Date is a former CNN producer and a 1998 graduate of The George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences.

The Kalb Report series is directed by Robert Vitarelli, a 39-year CBS News veteran and a Directors Guild of America Lifetime Achievement Award winner.

GW graduate student Meaghan Calnan and Presidential Administrative Fellow Sandra Perez serve as associate producers for this season's Kalb Report series. Perez is pursuing a master's degree in global communication jointly from GW's Elliott School of International Affairs and School of Media and Public Affairs in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences. Calnan is pursuing a master's degree in higher education administration in GW's Graduate School of Education and Human Development.

Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation's mission is to invest in the future of journalism by building the ethics, skills and opportunities needed to advance principled, probing news and information. The foundation does so through contributions to media institutions and journalism schools nationwide, primarily in areas of investigative reporting, youth education, professional development and special opportunities.

The George Washington University Global Media Institute, affiliated with GW's School of Media and Public Affairs in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences and Graduate School of Political Management in the College of Professional Studies, is a leader in the public dialogue on the transformation of journalism in the 21st Century and the evolving role of the press in our democracy. The Institute also produces the weekly network radio programs "This Just In!" in partnership with the Newseum, and GW Presents American Jazz in partnership with Tony Bennett's Exploring the Arts Foundation.

For more information about The Kalb Report, visit www.kalb.gwu.edu.

For more information about GW's Global Media Institute, visit www.globalmedia.gwu.edu.

For more information about the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, visit www.journalismfoundation.org.

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