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Award-Winning Kalb Report Series Opens 20th Season With Forum Commemorating 50th Anniversary Of March On Washington

Bob Ludwig
By Bob Ludwig
  • Faculty |
  • Kalb Report

 

Congressman John Lewis, Ambassador Andrew Young, NAACP Chairman Emeritus Julian Bond, Journalist Gwen Ifill to Join Marvin Kalb Tuesday, August 27, at National Press Club

Fifty years after the historic March on Washington, moderator Marvin Kalb and a panel of legendary civil rights leaders, journalists and scholars will explore the movement that changed the nation, the role of the press in the struggle, and how the lessons learned can be applied in the digital age.

The forum, “Remembering a March, a Movement and a Dream,” launches the 20th season of the highly acclaimed Kalb Report series and will take place on Tuesday, August 27, at 8 p.m. at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

As a witness to history, Mr. Kalb was on the National Mall covering the event, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic “I Have a Dream” speech, for Walter Cronkite and CBS News.

“Few stories have moved me as much,” said Mr. Kalb. “Dr. King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, observed from the CBS booth 20 feet away, thrilled me then, and resonates to this day, with its message of hope for the best in America. That day stands in a special place of honor in the history of this country’s quest for a more perfect union, and as we commemorate its 50th anniversary, let’s pause and remember its greatness with awe. I look forward eagerly to this opportunity to discuss it with people who were also there and were also touched by its magic.”

Joining Mr. Kalb on August 27 are NAACP Chairman Emeritus Julian Bond, U.S. Congressman John Lewis, who was featured in a video profile in the New York Times recently, Ambassador Andrew Young, PBS NewsHour Anchor Gwen Ifill, Morehouse College President Dr. John Wilson, and Dorothy Gilliam, the first African American woman to be hired as a reporter at The Washington Post.

The Kalb Report series is produced jointly by The National Press Club Journalism Institute, The George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs, Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center, University of Maryland University College and the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland.

For the 11th consecutive year, the series is underwritten by a grant from Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation.

Since 1994, the partnership has produced 80 forums with guests including Walter Cronkite, Rupert Murdoch, Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric, Bill O’Reilly, Bob Costas, Hillary Clinton, Ken Burns, Roger Ailes and Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel.

In 2012, The Kalb Report was honored with both a Gold World Medal and the overall Grand Award in the New York Festivals International Radio Awards competition.

The Kalb Report series is distributed nationally by American Public Television. Oklahoma Educational Television Authority serves as the presenting station. The Kalb Report also airs on the public radio channels of Sirius-XM Satellite Radio, Federal News Radio in Washington, D.C. (1500 AM), District of Columbia Cable Television, University of Maryland Cable Television, and NewsChannel 8 in Washington, D.C. Each program is also streamed live on kalb.gwu.edu.

Moderator Marvin Kalb is Edward R. Murrow Professor Emeritus at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. Over the course of his distinguished 30-year career in broadcast journalism, Mr. 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 Harvard’s Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy. 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. Mr. Kalb has authored or co-authored 13 nonfiction books and two best-selling novels. His latest book is “The Road to War: Presidential Commitments Honored and Betrayed.”

Executive Producer Michael Freedman is a senior vice president and professor of the practice at University of Maryland University College, as well as a professorial lecturer in journalism at the George Washington University. Mr. Freedman is the former general manager of CBS Radio Network News, and former managing editor for the broadcast division of United Press International. He is the recipient of more than 85 honors for journalistic excellence including 14 Edward R. Murrow Awards.

Senior Producer Heather Date is an associate vice president at University of Maryland University College, a GW alumna and a former CNN producer. She is the recipient of the Alliance for Women in Media’s 2011 Gracie Award for Outstanding Producer of a News Program for her work on The Kalb Report.

Lindsay Underwood, a 2011 graduate of George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs, is the associate producer of The Kalb Report.

Web Editor Bryan Kane is a senior at George Washington University.

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.