February 5, 2008

WASHINGTON -- Barbara Cochran, president of the Radio-Television News Directors Association and Radio and Television News Directors Foundation, has been named the 2008 recipient of the Distinguished Achievement Award in Broadcasting, given by the University of Georgia's DiGamma Kappa student society.

DiGamma Kappa and the Georgia Association of Broadcasters will honor Cochran at a ceremony on February 5 in Athens, GA. Other broadcasters who have previously received the award include Ed Bradley, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, Barbara Walters, Charles Kuralt, Ted Turner, Linda Ellerbee, Brian Ross and Bernard Shaw.

"Barbara Cochran continues a tradition of improving the American story through clear-eyed journalistic assessment of what goes on, from the smallest to the largest markets of radio and television news," says E. Culpepper Clark, dean of the university’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Cochran's recognition comes after another busy year of defending the First Amendment. Early in 2007, she joined the Sunshine in Government Coalition in supporting legislation to strengthen the Freedom of Information Act, which was eventually signed by President Bush at year's end. This past fall, she testified before congressional committees about the need to allow cameras into federal courtrooms, and about proposed fees for filming on public lands. And she continues to impress upon lawmakers the urgent need for a federal shield law to protect journalists from being forced to disclose their confidential sources; such legislation passed the House in October and is awaiting a vote in the Senate.

In the 10 years that Cochran has led RTNDA and RTNDF, she has been at the forefront of the many serious issues that electronic journalists face -- protecting journalists' access in post-9/11 America, opposing government secrecy, battling intrusive regulation of news content and encouraging diversity in the newsroom and in news coverage. Her past experience include 28 years as a print and broadcast journalist and news executive in Washington. She served as vice president and Washington bureau chief of CBS News; executive producer of NBC's Meet the Press; vice president of news for National Public Radio; and managing editor of the Washington Star.

DiGamma Kappa is the nation's oldest professional broadcasting society for students, founded in 1939 at the University of Georgia’s Grady College, which is also home to the prestigious George Foster Peabody Awards.

RTNDA is the world's largest professional organization devoted exclusively to electronic journalism. RTNDA represents local and network news executives in broadcasting, cable and other electronic media in more than 30 countries. RTNDF provides training, research and scholarship aid for professional and aspiring electronic journalists.

Comments

Add Comment