New awards to honor excellence in media industry reporting

New awards to honor excellence in media industry reportingMay 08, 2007Wendy S. Loughlinwsloughl@syr.edu

Seven jury awards will be presented at a luncheon in New York City to recognize the outstanding work of people and organizations that report on the media. These are the first awards of their kind.

The Mirror Awards Presentation Luncheon will take place Thursday, June 14, from 11:45 a.m.-2:30 p.m. at W New York, 541 Lexington Ave., New York City. Meredith Vieira, co-anchor of NBC’s morning news program “Today,” will serve as mistress of ceremonies. Peter Bart, vice president of Variety Inc. and editor in chief of Variety newspaper, will be honored with a special lifetime achievement award.

The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University established the Mirror Awards.

Luncheon committee co-chairs for the event include Rob Light ’78, partner, Creative Artists; Judy McGrath, chair and CEO, MTV Networks; Ron Meyer, president and COO, Universal Studios; Aaron Sorkin ’83, writer; and Jeff Zucker, president and CEO, NBC Universal.

“These awards are for anyone who cares about the media and about the public’s perception of the media in our economy and culture,” says Newhouse Dean David M. Rubin. “The media are so central to every aspect of American life, and so ubiquitous, that we thought it time to recognize coverage that best explains to the American public how the media work, and why. We believe this award and ceremony are long overdue, given that the media business, as a beat, has been the focus of some of the country’s best journalists. We are pleased to associate the Newhouse School with these new awards, given that the school has such a strong concentration in its mission on professional media work for its graduates.”

The Mirror Awards focus on all media — traditional and new — including newspapers, magazines, radio, television broadcasting, cable, satellite, film and the entire digital sphere of the Internet. Seven juried categories recognize reporters, editors and teams of writers who hold a mirror to their own industry for the public’s benefit. Newhouse established the awards to recognize winners for news judgment and command of craft in reporting, analysis and commentary on developments in the media industry.

The Mirror Awards are open to anyone who conducts reporting, commentary or criticism of the media industries — television, newspaper, magazine, radio, advertising, public relations, the Internet and other forms of content — in a format intended for a mass audience. This year’s entries came from a wide range of media outlets and organizations.

Luncheon committee members so far include Barry Baker ’73, managing director and general partner, Boston Ventures; Edward Bleier ’51 of CKX/Blockbuster/RealNetworks, for whom the Newhouse School’s Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture is named; Kathy Bloomgarden, CEO, Ruder Finn; Harold Burson, founding chair, Burson-Marsteller; Fred M. Dressler ’63, former executive vice president of programming, Time Warner Cable; Alan Frank G’70, president and CEO, Post-Newsweek Stations Inc.; Eric Frankel ’79, president, Warner Bros. Domestic Cable Distribution; Martin Garbus, partner, Davis & Gilbert LLP; Peter Guber, chair, Mandalay Pictures; Phil Gurin ’81, president, The Gurin Company; Andrew T. Heller, president of domestic distribution, Turner Broadcasting System; Deborah Henretta G’85, president, ASEAN, Australasia & India, The Procter & Gamble Co.; Philip I. Kent, chairman and CEO, Turner Broadcasting System; Larry Kramer ’72, advisor, CBS Interactive; John D. Miller ’72, chief marketing officer, TV Group, NBC Universal; Eric Mower ’66, G’88, chairman & CEO, Eric Mower and Associates Inc.; Mike Perlis ’76, Venture Partner, SOFTBANK Capital; Thomas S. Rogers, president and CEO, TiVo Inc.; Jeffrey A. Sine, vice chair and global head, Technology, Media & Telecommunications, UBS Investment Bank; John Sykes ’77, president, Network Development, MTV Networks; and Michael Terpin ’78, president and CEO, Terpin Communications Group.

Mirror judges include Floyd Abrams, partner, Cahill Gordon & Reindel; Louis D. Boccardi, director, The Gannett Co.: Hodding Carter III, professor of leadership and public policy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Karen Brown Dunlap, president, The Poynter Institute; Esther Dyson, author, “Release 2.1”; Theodore L. Glasser, professor of communication, Stanford University; Charlotte Grimes, Knight Chair in Political Reporting and professor, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University; Alberto Ibarguen, president and CEO, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; Alex Jones, director, The Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, Harvard University; Steve Kroft ’71, correspondent, “60 Minutes,” CBS; William T. Slater, dean and professor, College of Communication, Texas Christian University Schieffer School of Journalism; and Judy Woodruff, special correspondent, “NewsHour,” PBS.

For more information about the Mirror Awards or to reserve a table at the June 14 luncheon, visit http://mirrorawards.syr.edu or contact Catherine Gay Communications at (212) 501-7231 or mirror@cgcomgroup.com.

For press information, contact Wendy Loughlin at (315) 443-2785 or wsloughl@syr.edu.