Categotry Archives: Media

by

Richard Ben Cramer

No comments yet

Categories: Media, Writers/Editors

rbcramer Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Richard Ben Cramer died Jan. 7 of complications from lung cancer. He was 62.

Born in Rochester, N.Y., Cramer studied at Johns Hopkins University and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. After working as a political reporter for The Baltimore Sun, Cramer joined The Inquirer in Philadelphia. During his seven years at the paper, he rose from transportation reporter to acclaimed foreign correspondent. In 1979, he won the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting for his masterful coverage of the Middle East.

According to The New York Times, Cramer also wrote for numerous magazines, including Esquire, Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated and Time. However, he was best known for writing the 1992 book, “What It Takes: The Way to the White House,” which focused on the 1988 presidential campaign. Although it didn’t sell well and was critically panned, the tome was eventually viewed as one of the greatest books about electoral politics, The Inquirer reported.

“It’s insufficient to say that Cramer’s 1,047-page tour de force on the 1988 presidential race is the best book ever written about a campaign. It is that. But what makes it so valuable, so rewarding, just so much damn fun is that it illustrates why politics and journalism is so much damn fun,” Jonathan Martin of Politico wrote.

Cramer also penned books about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Bob Dole, Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio. In the last years of his life, Cramer was reportedly working on a book about the New York Yankees and Alex Rodriguez; however, his publisher sued him in December 2012 for failing to complete the project.

–This obituary previously appeared in The Huffington Post

by

Peter Moore

No comments yet

Categories: Actors, Media

pmoore.jpgPeter Moore, London’s official town crier for 31 years, died on December 20. Cause of death was not released. He was 70.
Town criers have a long history of serving the English citizenry with vocal proclamations. The first known broadcast occurred in 1066, when town criers shared news about the Battle of Hastings. Since literacy rates amongst the majority of the populace was low well into the late 19th century, town criers served as “talking newspapers” for the public, announcing the king’s edicts, advertising market days and generally spreading the news of the realm.
Although Moore was raised in central England, he ran away to London as a young man with dreams of becoming an actor. Bit parts came his way, including the role of the undertaker Mr. Sowerberry in the original stage production of the musical “Oliver!” in 1960, but steady acting work eluded him until 1978 when he was asked to serve as a town crier for an event. He took the job and found his niche.
Moore was a familiar sight on the streets of London, where he promoted the city’s attractions to tourists and residents alike. Clad in red and gold robes, white breeches, black boots and a feathered tricorn hat, he was easily recognizable in any crowd. Those who were too busy or distracted to see Moore certainly heard him for he would heartily begin every announcement with a boisterous “Oyez, Oyez” (roughly translated as “hark” or “listen”) and a ring of his bell, which was cast by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, the company that made Big Ben and the Liberty Bell.
Among his many titles, Moore was town crier to the mayor of London, the Greater London Authority, the city of Westminster and the London borough of Merton. He was also a freeman and liveryman of the city of London, deputy macebearer and town crier for the London borough of Southwark and tipstaff and town crier to the Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames.
Moore’s motto was: “Have Bell, Will Travel,” and he took it to heart. In his role as the official town crier of London, Moore appeared at hundreds of public events, charity balls, openings and ceremonies in the United Kingdom and in countries all over the world. Friends described him as “larger than life,” “a workaholic” and a “people person,” attributes that served him well as the most recognized town crier in England. When asked about his proudest moment on the job, Moore said it was when he announced the 1982 birth of Prince William of Wales outside the gates of Buckingham Palace.
Although his later years were spent in poor health, Moore had no interest in retiring. He performed his last official engagement on Dec. 19 at a Christmas reception given by the mayor of Southwark. Moore was due to receive a lifetime achievement award during the New Year’s Day Parade in London, which he lead every year since 1987. With Moore gone, parade organizers decided to posthumously honor him with the award.
–Photo by Tony Clarke.

by

Doug Marlette

No comments yet

Categories: Artists, Media, Writers/Editors

Doug Marlette, a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, educator and author, died on July 10 in a car accident. He was 57.
Born in North Carolina, Marlette became interested in cartooning when he was in the first grade. Consumed by the need to create, he ignored the advice of a counselor who once warned him that artists “were a dime a dozen,” and studied art and philosophy at Florida State University. Marlette launched his artistic career in 1972 drawing editorial cartoons for The Charlotte Observer. He later worked for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Newsday, the Tallahassee Democrat and the Tulsa World.
Over the course of the next 35 years, Marlette created enough cartoons to fill half a dozen books. He also won the National Headliners Award for Consistently Outstanding Editorial Cartoons three times, the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Award for editorial cartooning twice and the First Prize in the John Fischetti Memorial Cartoon Competition twice. The only cartoonist ever awarded a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University, Marlette even won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988 for his work at the Observer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Not everyone appreciated his perspective however. In 2002, Marlette drew a cartoon that depicted an Arab driving a rental truck with a nuclear weapon on board. The caption read: “What Would Muhammad Drive?” Soon after the cartoon’s publication, Marlette received more than 20,000 e-mails, including numerous death threats, and was denounced on the front page of the Saudi Arab News by the secretary general of the Muslim World League.
In 1981, Marlette launched Kudzu, a comic strip featuring a teen who dreams of leaving his tiny hometown to become a writer. Syndicated worldwide in hundreds of newspapers, Kudzu strips were also collected into seven volumes. The final strip will be published on Aug. 26.
When he wasn’t creating political and/or humorous cartoons, Marlette penned an ethics column for Esquire and contributed to The New Republic, The Nation, Men’s Journal, The Paris Review, the Columbia Journalism Review and Salon.com. He also co-wrote the screenplay, ‘Ex,’ with Pat Conroy, the bestselling author of “The Prince of Tides.” In 2001, Marlette delved into the fiction realm with the publication of “The Bridge.” The novel was voted Best Book of the Year for Fiction by the Southeast Booksellers Association, and one of the best books of the last five years by BookSense, the American Booksellers Association. His second novel, “Magic Time,” was published in 2006.
Most recently, Marlette taught at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and at the University of Oklahoma’s College of Journalism and Mass Communication. He was inducted into the UNC Journalism Hall of Fame in 2002.
Marlette was riding in the passenger seat of a car driven by John Davenport, a Mississippi high school theater director, when it skidded across a rain-slicked road and smashed into a tree. The cartoonist was visiting Mississippi to help a group of students produce a musical based on his “Kudzu” comic strip. Davenport was not seriously injured in the accident.
On July 12, N.C. Governor Michael F. Easley selected Marlette to posthumously receive the honor of membership to the North Carolina Order of the Long Leaf Pine, which is the highest civilian honor bestowed by the head of that state.
“I always thought it was going to be Doug giving the eulogy at my funeral,” Conroy said at Marlette’s funeral service. “He used to make up eulogies about me. The obituary would start: ‘An unknown writer died on Fripp Island…’”
• View Marlette’s Pulitzer Prize-Winning Cartoons
• Listen to a Tribute From NPR

by

Don Herbert

2 comments

Categories: Actors, Education, Hollywood, Media, Scientists

mrwizard.jpgScience is fun for everyone. That’s the message Donald Jeffry Herbert tried to convey to millions of children as “Mr. Wizard.”
Herbert made the subject of science seem both mysterious and magical. His weekly, half-hour educational program, “Watch Mr. Wizard,” which aired in black and white on NBC from 1951 to 1964, introduced young viewers to the joys of conducting experiments with simple household items. With the help of his young assistants, Mr. Wizard explained what makes a cake rise, how water comes out of a kitchen tap and why seashells sound like the ocean. He even showed kids how to cook a hot dog with a battery.
“Watch Mr. Wizard” won a Peabody Award and three Thomas Alva Edison National Mass Media Awards, and was reinvented on Nickelodeon in the 1980s as “Mr. Wizard’s World.” In both programs, Herbert eschewed a lab coat and professorial attitude. Instead his informal approach to teaching made science accessible, and instilled a sense of wonder in his audience. “Over the years, Don has been personally responsible for more people going into the sciences than any other single person in this country,” George Tressel, a National Science Foundation official, once said.
Born in Waconia, Minn., Herbert always had a passion for the theatre. In high school, he played the lead role in the school play; in college, he was the director of the Pioneer Players. He graduated from La Crosse State Teacher’s College with a degree in English and science, then spent the next several years honing his acting skills. He worked as a stage hand and actor for the Minnesota Stock Co., did summer stock with Nancy Davis (Reagan) and performed as magician and master of ceremonies in Winnipeg, Canada. He had just moved to New York City to break into the big time when World War II put a hold on his show business plans.
Herbert enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1942, and graduated from his training as a pilot and second lieutenant. He was shipped overseas, where he completed 56 bombing missions over northern Italy, Germany and Yugoslavia. For courage under fire, he earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with three oak-leaf clusters.
Upon his return to the states, Herbert moved to Chicago, where he worked as an actor, model and writer. He taught radio writing at the Chicago Radio Institute, and developed programs based on interviews he captured on his portable audio tape recorder. Many of those interviews ended up on the radio show “It’s Your Life.”
When Herbert created an early version of his “Mr. Wizard” show and presented it to potential advertisers, none of them were interested. Once he turned the program over to producer Charles Power, however, “Watch Mr. Wizard” found both a sponsor (The Cereal Institute) and a home (WMAQ, Chicago’s NBC affiliate). During its first year on the air, Herbert produced 28 live episodes. The following year, 1952, he produced 39 “Watch Mr. Wizard” episodes and began appearing on CBS as a progress reporter for “General Electric Theater.” After profiles of Herbert appeared in American Boy magazine, Science Digest and TV Guide, thousands of Mr. Wizard Science Clubs formed in the United States.
NBC canceled “Watch Mr. Wizard” in 1965, but Herbert continued his campaign to educate the youth of North America. He went to Canada and produced “Mr. Wizard,” a TV show that was carried on the CBC nationwide. He received grants from the National Science Foundation and The Arthur P. Sloane Foundation and used the money to make the “Experiment Series.” Herbert wrote/illustrated articles for the “Science for the Classroom From Mr. Wizard” series, and penned several books, including “Mr. Wizard’s 400 Experiments in Science” and “Mr. Wizard’s Supermarket Science.” He also created more than 100 “How About…” reports that were freely distributed to television stations.
In 1986, Herbert received a Golden Anniversary Award from Ohio State University, and a “Distinguished Television Science Reporting” honor from AAS/Westinghouse Science Journalism Awards. Five years later, he was given the Robert A, Millikan Award from the American Association or Physics Teachers for his “notable and creative contributions to the teaching of physics.” When he received the Council for Elementary Science International’s Science Advocate Award in 2000, an audience of 1,000 science teachers gave him a standing ovation.
Herbert died on June 12 of bone cancer. He was 89. Less than a week after his death, the U.S. House of Representatives honored him for his “profound public service and educational contributions.”
• Watch the Opening Credits for “Mr. Wizard’s World”

by

Jacques Roche

1 comment

Categories: Media, Writers/Editors

Jacques Roche, a well-known Haitian journalist, was found shot to death on July 14 on a Port-au-Prince street. He was in his early 40s.
The print/broadcast reporter and poet was kidnapped at gunpoint on July 10 while driving in the capital city. The abductors requested ransom money from his family, but they were unable to comply.
“They demanded $250,000, but after a lot of negotiation, they revised the amount downwards to $10,000. His relatives and friends had collected $10,000 that was sent to the kidnappers. Then they said they were waiting for the $240,000 remaining,” said journalist Chenald Augustin.
Roche edited the arts and culture section of Le Matin newspaper, and worked as a sports commentator for Radio IBO. He also hosted a local TV program on civil society issues, including one show about Groupe des 184, a coalition of 13 prominent business, religious and civic groups. Groupe des 184 played a role in the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide last year.
Roche’s body, which was found handcuffed and chained to a chair, showed signs of torture. His arms had been broken and burned, and his body was covered in blood.
[Update - July 19, 2005: Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue plans to schedule a national day of mourning for Roche. The government is also considering renaming the street where Roche's body was found after him.]

by

Brian Blaine Reynolds

No comments yet

Categories: Media

Brian Blaine Reynolds, a philanthropist who was also the first staff photographer at Sports Illustrated, died on June 2 of kidney disease. He was 89.
Born Hy Peskin, the Brooklyn native originally planned to become a sportswriter. He wrote for the New York Daily Mirror as a young man, but switched to photography when he learned it was a more lucrative profession. By the 1940s, Reynolds was freelancing for national publications, such as Life, the Saturday Evening Post and Time. But it was his work as a sports photographer that earned him both fame and fortune.
Hired by Sports Illustrated in 1954, Reynolds shot 634 assignments for the magazine over four decades. Two of his most memorable pictures — one featuring golfer Ben Hogan at the end of a swing on the 72nd hole during the 1950 U.S. Open, and one showing boxer Carmen Basilio celebrating after he knocked out Tony DeMarco in 1955 — were later named to Sports Illustrated’s list of favorite photos of the 20th century. In addition to sports, Reynolds shot portraits of writers (William Faulkner), presidents (Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy) and world leaders (Fidel Castro). He also produced the “Latin Quarter Lovelies” spread for Playboy in 1957.
The photographer changed his name in 1964 to Brian Blaine Reynolds, then launched a second career as a philanthropist. He helped organize the World Series of Sports Fishing with Ted Williams and created the American Academy of Achievement, a nonprofit organization that introduces young people to some of the greatest thinkers, artists, writers, athletes, explorers and humanitarians of our time. The academy, which is currently run by his youngest son, Wayne, sponsors an annual summit and operates the Museum of Achievement in Washington, D.C.
Reynolds did not always agree with his son’s management practices, and sued him several times in the late 1980s for “collusion, fraud, conversion, breach of implied covenant, false imprisonment, denial of due process, duress and slander.” In 1990, a California jury ruled in the elder Reynolds’ favor and awarded him $800,000. Reynolds returned to his artistic roots in his later years to photograph a boxing match between a man and a woman for Sports Illustrated, and to appear in a 2002 HBO documentary on sports photographers.
• View a Tribute From Sports Illustrated

by

Bob Hunter

5 comments

Categories: Media, Writers/Editors

bhunter.jpgRobert Hunter, a founding member of Greenpeace, died on May 2 of prostate cancer. He was 64.
The Manitoba native wasn’t an apt pupil in school. Instead of doing his homework, he would draw or write novels. Hunter’s interest in more creative pursuits led him to drop out of high school and join the media. In the 1960s, he worked as a reporter for the Winnipeg Tribune, then became a popular counter-culture columnist for the Vancouver Sun.
Hunter always had an interest in environmental issues, but it wasn’t until 1971 that he switched from observer to activist mode. That year, he and a group of 11 friends sailed an 80-foot fishing boat from Vancouver to Alaska in an effort to stop the American military from conducting nuclear weapons testing on Amchitka in the Aleutian Islands. Their demonstration led to the cancellation of the testing program and the island’s transformation into a wildlife sanctuary.
In 1972, the crew joined forces again to form Greenpeace, an international environmental movement with more than 2.8 million members. As the organization’s first president, Hunter helped turn Greenpeace into the most powerful environmental lobby in the world. He dyed the white coats of baby harp seals to make them commercially worthless, stood between Russian harpoon hunters and their whale prey and coined the terms “eco-warrior” and “media mind bomb.” Time magazine even named him one of the 10 “eco-heroes” of the 20th century.
Hunter returned to journalism in the late 1980s as an ecology reporter for City TV. He hosted the popular morning show “Papercuts” in his bathrobe, and entertained audiences by reading newspaper headlines and commenting on the stories. Hunter also wrote more than a dozen books, penned scripts for the syndicated TV series “The Beachcombers,” and made several documentaries, including one about his fight with prostate cancer. For his environmental and journalistic efforts, Hunter won five Western Magazine Awards, a CanPro Award and the Canadian Environmental Award.
• Listen to an Interview With the CBC

1 2 3 4 5 … 20 21