Danny Schechter
Encyclopedia
Television producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
, independent filmmaker
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
ger, and media critic who writes and lectures frequently about the media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
in the United States and worldwide. He specializes in investigative journalism
Investigative journalism
Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, often involving crime, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years researching and preparing a report. Investigative journalism...
and producing programming about the interfaces among human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
, journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
, popular music and society. In all, Schechter has reported from 49 countries. He was the recipient of the Society of Professional Journalists
Society of Professional Journalists
The Society of Professional Journalists , formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is one of the oldest organizations representing journalists in the United States. It was established in April 1909 at DePauw University, and its charter was designed by William Meharry Glenn. The ten founding members of...
' 2001 Award for Excellence in Documentary Journalism.
Background
Schechter graduated in 1964 from Cornell UniversityCornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
, where he wrote for the Cornell Daily Sun and was a member of the Quill and Dagger
Quill and Dagger
Quill and Dagger is a senior honor society at Cornell University. It is often recognized as one of the most prominent collegiate societies of its type, along with Skull and Bones of Yale University...
society. He later received a Master's degree from the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
and an honorary doctorate from Fitchburg State University. He was a Neiman Fellow in Journalism at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, where he taught in 1969, and an adjunct professor at the Graduate School of Journalism at olumbia University].
Schechter was a civil rights worker and the communications director of the Northern Student Movement
Northern Student Movement
The Northern Student Movement was an American civil rights organization founded at Yale University in 1961 by Peter J. Countryman...
, and served as a "community organizer" in a War on Poverty
War on Poverty
The War on Poverty is the unofficial name for legislation first introduced by United States President Lyndon B. Johnson during his State of the Union address on January 8, 1964. This legislation was proposed by Johnson in response to a national poverty rate of around nineteen percent...
program. Schechter also worked as an assistant to the Mayor of Detroit in 1966.
Schechter has lengthy experience in the major U.S. corporate media. His career began as the "News Dissector" at Boston radio station WBCN. Later, Schechter was a producer for the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
newsmagazine
Newsmagazine
A news magazine is a typed, printed, and published piece of paper, magazine or a radio or television program, usually weekly, featuring articles or segments on current events...
20/20. He produced 50 segments for ABC and won two Emmy Awards and was nominated for two others for this work. Schechter joined the start-up staff at CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
as a producer in Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
. Schechter helped found and served as the executive producer of Globalvision, a New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
-based television and film production company. He founded and executive-produced the series South Africa Now and co-produced Rights & Wrongs: Human Rights Television. From 1999-2010, Schechter was also the executive editor and "blogger-in-chief" at the now-defunct MediaChannel.org, for which he wrote a nearly-3000-word daily blog on media and society.
Film and television
Schechter has produced and directed many television specials and documentary filmDocumentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
s, including:
- Plunder: The Crime Of Our Time (2010)
- In Debt We Trust (2006)
- WMD: Weapons of Mass Deception (2004)
- Counting on Democracy, about the 2000 Florida election recountFlorida election recountThe Florida election recount of 2000 was a period of vote re-counting that occurred following the unclear results of the 2000 United States presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore, specifically the Florida results. The election was ultimately settled in favor of George W. Bush when...
, narrated by Ossie DavisOssie DavisOssie Davis was an American film actor, director, poet, playwright, writer, and social activist.-Early years:...
and Ruby DeeRuby DeeRuby Dee is an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and activist, perhaps best known for co-starring in the film A Raisin in the Sun and the film American Gangster for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.-Early years:Dee was born Ruby... - We Are Family (2002), about a benefit recording of the Sister Sledge songWe Are Family (song)"We Are Family" is a 1979 dance hit song by Sister Sledge, composed by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers. Rodgers and Edwards offered the song to Atlantic Records; although the record label initially declined, the track was released as a single from the album of the same name and quickly began to...
following the September 11, 2001 attacks; shown at the Sundance Film FestivalSundance Film FestivalThe Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new... - "Nkosi: A Voice of Africa's AIDS Orphans" (2001), narrated by Danny GloverDanny GloverDanny Lebern Glover is an American actor, film director, and political activist. Glover is perhaps best known for his role as Detective Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon film franchise.-Early life:...
- "A Hero for All: Nelson Mandela's Farewell" (1999)
- "Beyond Life: Timothy Leary Lives" (1997)
- "Sowing Seeds/Reaping Peace: The World of Seeds of Peace" (1996)
- "Prisoners of Hope: Reunion on Robben Island" (1995, co-directed by Barbara KoppleBarbara KoppleBarbara Kopple is an American film director, primarily known for her work in documentary film.-Biography:She grew up in Scarsdale, New York, the daughter of a textile executive and studied psychology at Northeastern University, after which she worked with the Maysles Brothers.Kopple has won two...
- "Countdown to Freedom: Ten Days that Changed South Africa" (1994), narrated by James Earl JonesJames Earl JonesJames Earl Jones is an American actor. He is well-known for his distinctive bass voice and for his portrayal of characters of substance, gravitas and leadership...
and Alfre WoodardAlfre WoodardAlfre Ette Woodard is an American film, stage, and television actress. She has been nominated once for an Academy Award and Grammy Awards, 17 times for Emmy Awards , and has also won a Golden Globe and three Screen Actors Guild Awards.She is known for her role in films such as Cross Creek, Miss... - "Sarajevo Ground Zero" (1993)
- "The Living Canvas" (1992), narrated by Billy Dee WilliamsBilly Dee WilliamsWilliam December "Billy Dee" Williams, Jr. is an American actor, artist, singer, and writer.-Early life:Williams was born in New York City, New York, the son of Loretta...
- "Beyond JFK: The Question of Conspiracy" (1992, co-directed by Marc LevinMarc LevinMarc Levin is an independent film producer and director. He is best known for his Brick City TV series, which won the 2010 Peabody award and was nominated for an Emmy for Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking and his dramatic feature film, SLAM, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance...
and Barbara Kopple - "Give Peace a Chance" (1991)
- "Mandela in America" (1990)
- "The Making of Sun City" (1987)
- "Student Power" (1968)
Literature
Schechter has also published a number of books, including:- "Embedded: Weapons of Mass Deception: How the Media Failed to Cover the Iraq War" (Prometheus Books, October 2003)
- "Media Wars: News At A Time of Terror" (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003)
- "The More You Watch, The Less You Know" (Seven Stories Press)
- "News Dissector: Passions, Pieces and Polemics" (Akashic Books and Electron Press).
- "Falun Gong's Challenge to China: Spiritual Practice or 'Evil Cult'?"
- Investigating Our Economic Calamity and the Subprime Scandal. USA: New York (Cosimobooks, 2008). ISBN 978-1-60520-351-5
- "The Death of Media (and the Fight to Save Democracy)" (Melville House PublishingMelville House PublishingMelville House Publishing is an independent publisher of literary fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. The company was founded in 2001 by the husband and wife team of Dennis Loy Johnson and Valerie Merians in Hoboken, New Jersey, a location Johnson jokingly called "the Left Bank" of New York City...
, 2005). ISBN 978-0-976658-36-8
External links
- Danny Schechter's Home Page
- Danny Schechter's Blog at News Dissector
- Interview with Danny Schechter by JK Fowler for The Mantle March 20, 2011
Listening
- Danny Schechter interview by Tavis SmileyTavis SmileyTavis Smiley is a talk show host, author, liberal political commentator, entrepreneur, advocate and philanthropist. Smiley was born in Gulfport, Mississippi and grew up in Kokomo, Indiana. After attending Indiana University, he worked during the late 1980s as an aide to Tom Bradley, the mayor of...
Video
- Danny Schechter interview
- Plunder: The Crime Of Our Time: Danny Schechter Takes on Wall St. in New Film
- Schechter: "One Nation March on Washington Was More Movie than Movement" - video interview by Democracy Now!Democracy Now!Democracy Now! and its staff have received several journalism awards, including the Gracie Award from American Women in Radio & Television; the George Polk Award for its 1998 radio documentary Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship, on the Chevron Corporation and the deaths of...