The Ayatollah and Me
Thanks AK! The release of the British hostages from Iran brought back warm memories of how my TV career started. As it is Good Friday, I thought I would share them with you. I did not start off looking...
Read moreThe VJ Registry
Can you see the future……. In 1988 I quit a job at CBS News as a producer for Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt, bought a small video camera and went to live in Jabalya, a Palestinian refugee camp in...
Read moreListen Up!
Jack Hitt…. A real journalist….. Congratulations to my old friend Jack Hitt who just won a Peabody for his story on “Gitmo” on This American Life. He and I both went to Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism (’83),...
Read more5Takes – Season 4
No time for photos… we’re on a very tight schedule… A REVOLUTION IN A LAPTOP Two years ago, we engaged in a small experiment in television production. We wanted to send 5 young Americans to Europe for the summer...
Read moreOne Small Step
“what else is on?” On July 21, 1969, man landed on the moon. It was an incredible achivement in human history. And the moment was televised for the entire planet to see. A short three years later, man left...
Read morePassed Over?
‘and thou shalt have one person with a camera…’ In 2000, following a speech I gave at Newsworld in Barcelona, The BBC invited me to come to the UK to talk about my ‘VJ in the Newsroom’ concept. Following...
Read moreIF PBS RAN THE ART WORLD
Can you make it more like South Park? Television, despite all the billions of human labor hours that have been spent making stuff (and that is what TV is all about, making stuff..just like painting or sculpture), has produced...
Read moreHyperlocal News
Yesterday, we held a press conference in Washington, DC to announce the launch of FiOS1, Verizon’s first local TV news and community information channel. We are fortunate to be partners with Verizon in this very exciting project, and now...
Read moreAdvice to Students
With real writer Mark Bittman, food critic for the NY Times – trying to design a TV show – hello…. Food Network? Are you listening? When I was 2o years old, I dreamed of being a writer. So I...
Read moreDead Man Talking
Hello? eBay? Thomas Edison was an entrepreneur. When he invented the phonograph in 1877 he also incorporated the Edison Speaking Phonograph Company. The idea was to sell phonographs – something which had never existed before. To create demand and...
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