Retired CNN Executive to Address 'Why Network News is Down the Tube' November 12

In the aftermath of an historic presidential election, a 40-year veteran of broadcast news will speak at Emory University about the current state of television news. Former CNN Headline News President V.R. "Bob" Furnad will address “Why Network News is Down the Tube” in a Nov. 12 lecture hosted by the Emory Center for Myth and Ritual in American Life (MARIAL). The talk is free and open to the public. It is at 4 p.m. at the MARIAL Center, 1256 Briarcliff Road, Suite 413E.

Furnad has covered seven presidents and 13 political conventions since 1972. He spent 18 years at ABC, and 17 years at CNN. His last position at ABC was senior producer for Good Morning America news. Furnad joined CNN in 1983 as its first political director and rose to the position of executive vice president and senior executive producer. He produced all live special event coverage including the first Gulf War, the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Moscow revolt, the Moscow coup, Tiananmen Square and the Oklahoma City bombing. In his last three years at CNN, Furnad was president of CNN Headline News, CNN Radio, CNN Airport Network and CNN Newsource. Furnad reorganized CNN Headline News to utilize the latest technologies, reduce costs, and make more resources available to gather news and create production elements.

Furnad retired in January 2001, and joined the Henry W. Grady School of Journalism at the University of Georgia as a visiting associate professor. He retired from UGA in May 2006. In 2001, Furnad worked on a television news project for the Kuwaiti government and, as part of Intelligent Media Consultants, worked with executives at the NDTV networks in India. Furnad also delivers a video exercise on ethics for broadcast news majors at journalism colleges across the country.

He has received two George Foster Peabody Awards, two Emmys and the DuPont-Columbia Award, and is chairman of FaithWorks, a ministry in Covington that provides emergency financial aid to help people pay electric bills and rent.

The Emory Center for Myth and Ritual in American Life (MARIAL) is one of five Sloan Centers on Working Families, supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The Emory Center focuses its research on the functions and significance of ritual and myth in dual wage-earner middle-class families in the American South.

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Georgia State Students’ Design Work Featured on CNN

At first glance, the portraits appear to be sketches of presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain. But look closer and each line and curve is a letter, a word, a sentence.

Students in Stan Anderson’s advanced typography class at Georgia State were approached by CNN to create typographical portraits of the presidential candidates using each candidate’s own words and platforms. The works were then posted at http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/28/typography.irpt/index.html.

“I thought a nonpartisan type of political assignment would be terrific since it would allow the designers to actually research all six official presidential candidates running this year,” Anderson said. “I’m sure the students’ own views did play into their choices for their portraits, but they were very respectful of how they depicted the candidates.”

Each student created two portraits, choosing from the candidates running for president. While Obama and McCain were the most popular choices, students also depicted Bob Barr, Ralph Nader and Cynthia McKinney.

“No one was trying to sway another on how to vote or whom to vote for during this election,” Anderson said. “Words are powerful, and the use of the candidates’ own words made the assignment even more so.”

Last year, another of Anderson’s classes collaborated with CNN, presenting design work for the network’s League of First-Time Voters project. The assignments have been a way for Georgia State students to get real-world design experience, he said. Anderson came to Georgia State in 2001, after leaving CNN Headline News as Director of Design for the network.

“This year’s junior class of graphic design majors is some of the best and brightest — and creative — that I have ever seen,” he said. “Their keen sense of who they are and where they are in their chosen profession is remarkable. Each come to the projects with their own creative voice, and that translates into some of the most innovative and inspiring work I’ve ever seen. My students continue to inspire me.”

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Editor's Note: This artwork is fantastic. It's impressive to see how words can literally draw a picture.

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CNN Executive Producer Peter Dykstra to Speak at Georgia Southern University

Peter Dykstra, environmental journalist and executive producer for CNN, will speak at Georgia Southern University on Oct. 21. Dykstra will discuss current trends in media concerning environmental journalism. He will present his lecture, Britney vs. The Biosphere: How Reporting on the Fate of the World Gets Obscured by the More Important Stories, at 7 p.m. in the Assembly Hall of the Nessmith-Lane Continuing Education Building.

Dykstra oversees coverage of traditional sciences, technology, the environment, space and the weather for many of CNN’s broadcasts. His awards include a 1993 Emmy for his coverage of the Mississippi River floods, a shared 2004 DuPont-Columbia Award for CNN’s reporting on the Indian Ocean Tsunami, and a 2005 George Foster Peabody Award for CNN’s coverage of both Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. He has been the executive producer of investigative documentaries for CNN, including “Broken Government: Scorched Earth.”

Dykstra received his Bachelor of Science degree in Communication from Boston University. He currently serves on the panel for the John Oaks Awards for Environmental Journalism at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Dykstra is also a former board member of the Society of Environmental Journalism.

This event is free and open to the public. Dykstra’s appearance is sponsored by the Department of Communication Arts at Georgia Southern University. For more information on Dykstra or this event, contact Pam Bourland-Davis at:pamelagb@georgiasouthern.edu .

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