Topic: ‘Truthful
Not Neutral in a Time of Dissent’
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| She did great international reporting |
Long before she was an award-winning
chief international anchor at CNN, Christiane Amanpour was an eager journalism
student at the University of Rhode Island interning at Rhode Island’s WJAR-TV
station with its veteran investigative reporter, Jim Taricani.
Thirty-plus years later, Amanpour
’83, H ’95, will pay tribute to her former mentor on Thursday, July 16, at noon
as she delivers the second installment of the Taricani
Lecture Series on First Amendment Rights, hosted by the Harrington
School of Communication and Media.
This summer’s free virtual series
honors the memory of Taricani H ’18, a Rhode Island journalism icon for his
coverage of corruption and organized crime, his heroic stance in protecting a
confidential source in 2004, and his advocacy of a federal shield law to
protect journalists.
The three-part series is a prelude to the annual Taricani
Lecture, which begins next spring.
As an intern in the early 1980s,
Amanpour worked with Taricani on numerous investigative stories, learning the
time-tested tools of tracking down leads, verifying information, and getting to
the truth, said Laurie White-Taricani, Jim’s wife, who, along with the Taricani
family, endowed the lecture series.
Amanpour and Taricani became
friends. And when a job opened up at a new 24-hour cable news network, he told
her to go for it, even though it was an entry-level position, taking in
overnight satellite feeds and recording them on video.
“Christiane knew early in her life that she wanted to be an international correspondent, but Jim encouraged her to pursue the opportunity even though it was behind the scenes,” said White-Taricani.
“He told her that it would be only a matter of time before a
big story broke overseas and CNN would urgently need her multi-lingual, foreign
affairs expertise. A few weeks later, that’s exactly what happened.
Christiane and Jim, of course, stayed in touch throughout the decades – sharing
war stories – literally and figuratively – and learning from each other’s
experiences. I am so grateful for her friendship and willingness to
headline session two of the Taricani Lecture Series on First Amendment Rights.”
From modest beginnings at CNN’s
Atlanta headquarters, Amanpour’s career in journalism has spanned more than
three decades. Later based in the network’s London bureau, she rose through the
reporting ranks, becoming CNN’s leading international correspondent with a
brand of fearless and uncompromising reporting.
She covered the Gulf War and
the war in Bosnia, along with reporting from such conflict hot spots as
Afghanistan, North Korea, the Middle East, Somalia, Rwanda, the Balkans, Egypt,
and Libya. Newsweek said her reporting from the Gulf and the Balkans helped
make CNN must-see TV for world leaders.
In 2009, CNN launched “Amanpour,” a
global affairs program aired in the U.S. on PBS. She has conducted exclusive
interviews with many of the top world leaders and decision makers, including
Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Libyan leader
Muammar Gaddafi, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, and Russian Prime Minister
Dmitry Medvedev.
She has also captured every major broadcast award, including
the inaugural Television Academy Award, 11 News & Documentary Emmy Awards,
four Peabody Awards, two George Polk Awards, three duPont-Columbia Awards, and
the Courage in Journalism Award.
Along with her role as anchor and
reporter, Amanpour is an active rights campaigner, raising awareness of key
global issues and journalists’ rights.
She is a board member of Committee to
Protect Journalists, the Centre for Public Integrity and the International
Women’s Media Foundation. At her alma mater, Amanpour endowed the annual
Amanpour Lecture, which has brought leading journalists to campus since 2007,
and serves on the Harrington School advisory board.
Amanpour’s talk, “Truthful Not
Neutral in a Time of Dissent: A Conversation with Christiane Amanpour,” will be
held Thursday, July 16, at noon and will be livestreamed on the URI Harrington
School of Communication and Media’s social media platforms. Please, register to receive a weblink to the free lecture.
The lecture will be moderated by
Sree Sreenivasan, a journalist and the inaugural Marshall R. Loeb visiting
professor at the Stony Brook School of Journalism.
The Taricani Lecture Series
concludes in August with a panel discussion of local journalists. The series is
hosted by the Harrington School, the College of Arts & Sciences, and the
Journalism Department.
Gifts to the Taricani Lecture Series
position the University of Rhode Island as a destination for robust discussion
regarding journalism and the First Amendment by providing the resources needed
to bring distinguished local, national and international journalists to lend
their expertise and perspective to this critically important topic. Please,
help support the Taricani Lecture Series.