NEWS

Marvin Kalb, former chief diplomatic correspondent for NBC, and CBS to speak at UNC

By ANITA KIRSTEN WEEKS

School of Journalism and Mass Communication

CHAPEL HILL -- Marvin Kalb, former chief diplomatic correspondent for NBC News and CBS News and former director of Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center for the Press, Politics and Public Policy, will speak Oct. 14, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication will present the free, public lecture as part of the Roy H. Park Distinguished Lecture Series at 6 p.m. in Carroll Hall, Room 111.

Kalb is currently a senior fellow at the Shorenstein Center, where he served as founding director from 1987 to 1999. He also oversees the center’s Washington, D.C., office and programs, and serves as a lecturer in public policy at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

During his 30-year career as a correspondent for CBS News and NBC News and as moderator of "Meet the Press," Kalb received numerous awards for excellence in reporting, including two Peabody Prizes from the University of Georgia, the DuPont Prize from Columbia University and more than a half-dozen Overseas Press Club Awards.

In Washington, Kalb has led two high-profile seminar series addressing critical issues facing the business and practice of journalism today. "The Kalb Report," co-sponsored by the Shorenstein Center, The George Washington University and the National Press Club, is a monthly public affairs program that features interviews and panel discussions with both senior journalists and chief executive officers of major media companies. The Brookings/Harvard Forum was a weekly program developed in 2001 to provide an opportunity for journalists, government officials and the academic community to analyze current developments in the war on terrorism and how they are covered in the press.

Kalb has hosted a number of television series for the Public Broadcasting System, including "Vox Populi," a four-part series on citizen attitudes toward government, and "Candidates ’88." He frequently provides media commentary and analysis through radio and television interviews and opinion-editorial columns in the country’s leading newspapers and is a regular guest on "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer."

Kalb has written and co-written seven non-fiction books, including "Kissinger," "Roots of Involvement" and "The Nixon Memo," as well as two best-selling novels. His latest book, "One Scandalous Story," dissects Washington journalism in the breaking of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal in January 1998. It was published by the Free Press in 2001.

Kalb’s speech will be the seventh in the Park Distinguished Lecture Series, which features outstanding mass communication professionals. The Park Foundation of Ithaca, N.Y., funds the lectures to enhance its Park Fellowship Program in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Each year the Park Foundation provides fellowships for 24 new master’s and doctoral students to enter the School’s graduate program. In fall 2002, the seventh class of Park Fellows began their studies.

The lecture series is named for Roy H. Park, who was founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Park Communications Inc., a multimedia company with broadcast and print properties throughout the United States. Park had a longtime affiliation with the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication, serving on its foundation Board of Directors from 1981 to 1993 and its Board of Visitors from 1989 to 1993. In 1989, he received the North Carolina Award, the state’s highest civilian honor. He was inducted into the N. C. Journalism Hall of Fame, headquartered in the school, in 1990. He died in 1993.

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