New York, New York, November 29: Twenty years ago, two TV network news producers saw major changes on the media horizon that would transform their industry. They decided to leave sinecures at ABC and CBS and take their media interests in a new direction with a company they called Globalvision.
Few thought it would survive a year, much less twenty.
“We were soon upwardly global and downwardly mobile,” jokes Emmy-award winning producer Danny Schechter, who became, in his words, a “network refugee” from ABC News 20/20 to partner with Rory O’Connor, then with CBS News 48 Hours. The pair first met back in their “alternative journalism” days in Boston, when O’Connor was a weekly newspaper editor and Schechter — known as “the News Dissector” – was broadcasting news and commentary on New England’s leading FM radio station.
In 1987, they launched Globalvision out of one room in Soho as a mission-driven company with little money but a big idea: to improve news coverage of the world through an “inside-out” approach that would offer voices not usually heard on the air in the US.
In an industry known for turnover and volatility, with companies making a splash one day and disappearing the next, Globalvision is unique because of its commitment to covering issues and promoting values that challenge the conventional news wisdom.
“Working together we can make a difference,” says Rory O’Connor. “Our long track record only underscores the importance of a feisty independent media that reports stories that are being muzzled or minimized in the mainstream. Sometimes it makes all the difference in the world. ”
Globalvision won numerous awards and considerable professional recognition for its pioneering international newsmagazine South Africa Now, which first broke through censorship to smuggle footage out of what was once the land of apartheid — and later chronicled Nelson Mandela’s transition from prisoner to President. The company followed up with another award winning series, Rights & Wrongs: Human Rights Television with Charlayne Hundter-Gault, which aired for four years in sixty-two countries around the world.
O’Connor and Schechter have also directed and produced more than thirty hard-hitting documentaries, many involving controversial issues and investigations — some for the PBS “Frontline” series” and others for television systems worldwide. Current films deal with subjects such as America’s child farm workers, bridging the global digital divide, flawed media coverage of the War in Iraq, and the ongoing debt crisis that threatens the global economic system.
Even while making media, Globalvision also critiques media through MediaChannel.org, the world’s largest on line media issues network and website with 700 affiliates that launched seven years ago. The site aims to promote accountability and transparency. Former CBS Newscaster Walter Cronkite serves as lead advisor. O’Connor and Schechter write blogs for the site. Danny Schechter has had 8 books on media themes published. O’Connor’s latest book in progress investigates right-wing radio.
Globalvision’s ongoing media history and story is unique in the US media, and merits coverage on its 20th anniversary.
- Associated Press
“Thought-provoking… journalism with a heart.”
- Utne Reader
“Absolutely spectacular… indispensable.”
- Los Angeles Times
“Going where the networks won’t.”
- Boston Globe
“Food for the mind and soul.”
- USA Today
No comments:
Post a Comment