CNN/YouTube to receive i-3 Award for Impact, Innovation and Influence June 23

CNN/YouTube to receive i-3 Award for Impact, Innovation and Influence June 23March 31, 2008Wendy S. Loughlinwsloughl@syr.edu

CNN/YouTube will receive the i-3 Award for Impact, Innovation and Influence from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications on Monday, June 23, at the second annual Mirror Awards luncheon. The ceremony will be held at 11:45 a.m. in the Rainbow Room, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York City.

The cable network and the online video community are being honored for a partnership that led to last year’s CNN/YouTube presidential debates, which allowed Americans to submit videotaped questions to the candidates. Two debates — one for the Democrats and one for the Republicans — were held.

“The debates added an inflection to civic discourse that we have never seen before,” says Newhouse professor Robert Thompson, director of the school’s Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture. While Thompson points out that participation was relatively low — a total of 8,000 people submitted questions for both debates — he believes the debates were a valuable addition to the political process and hopes to see them repeated.

The i-3 award will be accepted by Steve Grove, head of news and politics for YouTube.

The Mirror Awards, established by the Newhouse School in 2006, honor the reporters, editors and teams of writers who hold a mirror to their own industry for the public’s benefit. Honorees are recognized for news judgment and command of craft in reporting, analysis and commentary on developments in the media industry and its role in our economy, culture and democracy. Several juried and special awards are given.

For more information, contact Jean Brooks at (315) 443-5711 or mirror@syr.edu, or see http://mirrorawards.syr.edu.