Journalism

I don’t think we can ever really understand a place until we move into its streets in the midst of its people and until we listen to what they talk about and what they remember.  Every place has experiences that have galvanized them as a people and moved things in a new direction.  Often the media plays a crucial role in framing these experiences in ways that crystallize a thousand thoughts and feelings into one clear understanding.

Next month a group of journalists will gather in Johannesburg to talk about the role of media in South Africa at this time.  South Africa seems to be at a turning point.  Those thrilling days of miracles and courage of the new South African democracy set the world's imagination on fire.  Virtually everyone when asked to name the world's greatest living leader said  then, and would still say today, "Nelson Mandela.  But the refusal by Pretoria in March to grant a visa to the Dalai Lama signalled a different era in South Africa.  The native culture of ubuntu, with its emphasis on reco

It was a Dutch sociologist named Fred Polak, who, in 1973, called our attention to the relationship between the images a society creates and its future.  For him the positive image of the future is the single most important dynamic and explanatory variable for understanding cultural evolution.    He suggests that the rise and fall of images of the future precedes or accompanies the rise and fall of cultures.  Think of Italy and England in their renaissance or even Silicon Valley in the 1980’s and 90’s.  This week another Dutchman, Robbert Zoon, is launching a new international Websit

I learned about producing video from an ABC sportscaster in 1981.  3 years later I worked on my first production with Walter Cronkite.  I remember how nervous I was when we presented a script to him.  And I remember how lovely and gracious he was about the few changes he requested.  On the day of the shoot, it was Walter who asked for all retakes we did, and at the end of the day, when they were about to take our cameras for the 6 o'clock news, it was Walter who made sure we could finish.  Between takes he sat next to me and talked about how much he liked sailing in the waters around Rhod