17.06.2011
David Fanning Calls for a Transformation of Public Television While Accepting the Fred Friendly First Amendment Award from Quinnipiac University
That's the message David Fanning, executive producer of "FRONTLINE," had for the nearly 100 people who attended18th annual Fred Friendly First Amendment Award luncheon Tuesday at the Metropolitan Club. The award, presented by the School of Communications at Quinnipiac, acknowledges one of the most basic constitutional rights and honors those who have shown courage and forthrightness in preserving it.
"I'd suggest we put together a Public Journalism Fund foundations, individuals, major donors and public money and we go out and simply get together the best journalists we can hire," Fanning said. "And make sure to bring in with them a new generation of young reporters who are used to the daily demands, the drumbeat of reporting in the digital world."
Fanning told the audience, which included Charles Gibson, the former anchor of ABC's "World News with Charles Gibson," Susan Filan, senior legal analyst at MSNBC, and Gay Talese, the best-selling author, that if done smartly, his idea would get a lot of attention.
"This is not one more collection of bloggers, but an editorial effort that will concentrate on enterprise reporting," Fanning said. "That's going to be the most valuable commodity around in a universe of instant news and disposable punditry."
Fanning said he believes currently public broadcasting is threatening its special status as non-commercial media. "I'm told that in surveys, the public doesn't notice the ads online, and is not offended. I'm not surprised we all swim in a sea of commercialism but that's precisely why we need to keep ourselves clean of it.
"Because one day, I am afraid, when most of our work is going to be experienced on the web, we will wake up and the public will say we're no different from the rest of them. Why should we give you our membership money? And why should the government give you our tax dollars? I don't need to wonder what Fred Friendly would think about the enterprise he called broadcasting's last best chance."
To read Fanning's entire speech, please visit
SOURCEQuinnipiac University
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Syrians said to sweep up northern males at random
In this border region, where thousands of Syrian civilians have fled to havens in Turkey, Turkish officials were preparing to send food, clean water, medicine and other aid to thousands more stranded on the Syrian side.
The unusual plan for a cross-border operation on Syrian soil appeared to have Syrian clearance, being announced by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu after he met with an envoy from President Bashar Assad's authoritarian regime.
"We have taken precautions and humanitarian aid will be supplied for around 10,000 people who are waiting on the Syrian side of the border," Davutoglu said. He also reiterated Turkey's support for major democratic reform in Syria.
The random detentions were concentrated on the major towns of Jisr al-Shughour and Maaret al-Numan and in nearby villages, an area where the army has massed troops for days in apparent preparation for a fresh military operation, Syrian human rights activist Mustafa Osso reported. He said at least 300 people were being detained daily.
He also said troops opened fire early Thursday on the outskirts of Maaret al-Numan, a town of 100,000 on the highway linking Damascus with Syria's second-largest city, Aleppo. No casualties were reported.
Another source, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said dozens of tanks, armored personnel carriers and buses carrying security forces were deploying around the town of Khan Sheikhon, south of Maaret al-Numan, and residents were fleeing.
Since anti-government protests erupted in mid-March, inspired by democratic revolutions in autocrat-ruled Tunisia and Egypt, Assad has unleashed the military in area after area to crush street demonstrations. Human rights activists say more than 1,400 Syrians have been killed and 10,000 have been detained.
The most recent resistance, in Idlib province, appeared also to pose the most serious threat of an armed opposition base being established within Syria.
Turkey already is hosting more than 9,000 Syrians who have fled the Idlib crackdown, a refugee stream that has been an embarrassing public spectacle for Damascus, which has banned foreign journalists in order to control coverage of the uprising.
Syria has appealed to the refugees to return to the flashpoint town of Jisr al-Shughour, saying it's now safe. But many sound unconvinced.
Asked by The Associated Press about the appeal, a refugee who identified himself as Ali replied: "Do you believe that? They would kill us." He said troops were "firing at anything" in Jisr al-Shughour.
The Syrian government blames a foreign conspiracy for the unrest, saying religious extremists — not true reform-seekers — are behind it. The government also has denied there are any cracks in the military, despite rumors Sunni Muslim army conscripts are refusing to fire on civilians.
The rumors point up Syria's potentially explosive sectarian divide. The Assad regime is dominated by the Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, but the country is overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim.
Alawite dominance has bred resentments, which Assad has worked to tamp down by pushing a strictly secular identity in Syria. But the president now appears to be relying heavily on his Alawite power base, beginning with highly placed Assad relatives, to crush the resistance.
Late Wednesday, a lieutenant colonel and four privates deserted the Syrian army and fled to Turkey, Turkey's state-run Anatolia news agency reported. They would be joining a number of civil servants and other soldiers and police officers already sheltering in the refugee camps, it said.
Syria's state-run news agency on Thursday said Assad expressed confidence that "Syrians will get out of this crisis stronger and more cohesive."
But Davutoglu said after meeting the Syrian envoy, former army chief of staff Hassan Turkmani, that Turkey believes Syria should put into motion a "comprehensive reform process for democratization."
"Yesterday, I clearly saw fear in the eyes of those people and I shared it with him," he said of a visit to the camps. "We believe that the determination for reform should be more clearly communicated to both the people of Syria and the international community."
In Washington, the State Department reiterated U.S. condemnation of what it called the Assad government's "revolting" actions. "We've been struck in the last couple of weeks that Assad's repression has only served to pour gasoline on the fire for change," spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters.
She also said the U.S. is stepping up contacts with Syrian dissidents inside and outside the country, but she wouldn't elaborate.
Also Thursday, the Assad regime appeared to be making a concerted effort to dampen growing rage aimed at the ruling elite — specifically Assad's cousin Rami Makhlouf , who controls the mobile phone network and other lucrative enterprises in Syria and who has been the target of many protesters' rage.
Makhlouf held a news conference in Damascus in which he said the profit from his 40 percent shares in the mobile phone network, SyriaTel, will go to charity, and he will no longer enter into any "personal projects."
His comments were a stark turnaround from May, when he told The New York Times in a defiant interview that the ruling elite in Syria will "fight until the end."
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Mroue reported from Beirut.
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Classic Kitchen Supplies Announces Grand Opening of Their New eCommerce Store
The new website will provide customers with an easy and pleasant shopping experience. Classic Kitchen Supplies offers many different brands, so consumers have an even greater selection to choose from. Products can be found by category or by brand, so they are easily searchable. Classic Kitchen Supplies believes that customers will enjoy their shopping experience on the new website. You can visit the website at .
About Classic Kitchen Supplies:Classic Kitchen Supplies is owned by Mike and Maryann Rohrabaugh, who are focused on helping their customers find the best kitchen products for their money. They want customers to feel like they are shopping with company they can trust.
Original Content Created by Madwire Media
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Farra LanzerMadwire Media888-872-3734Email Information
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