The third annual Edward R. Murrow Forum on Issues in Journalism came on the late journalism legend's 100th birthday.
The discussion, held yesterday in Cabot Auditorium, brought media celebrities such as former NBC anchorman Tom Brokaw and Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan to examine today's political journalism in a forum dedicated to celebrating and continuing Murrow's legacy.
Murrow, the host of CBS's "See It Now" in the 1950s and '60s, is one of the most famous journalists in history. His son Casey and two of his grandchildren attended yesterday's event.
In his opening remarks, University President Lawrence Bacow summarized Murrow's mission to create an informed citizenry.
"Edward R. Murrow believed in the power of the media to help not only inform but to change the world for the better," Bacow said.
"It was this commitment in fact to media and public diplomacy which was important to his life and which is a tradition that we continue here at Tufts today."
Bacow added that the rising number of young people registering to vote is a promising element of today's political world.
"I think as an educator I can say that this is only a good thing for the country," Bacow said. "It is important that this generation and so many other generations be moved to engage in politics and become active in the political process."
Casey Murrow thanked Tufts for the recognition it gave to his father's accomplishments. "I'm sure that [Edward Murrow] would have been honored and perhaps astonished that his work still has the importance with people that it had when he was reporting it," Casey Murrow said.
Phil Primack (A '70), an Experimental College professor who helped organize the forum, said that yesterday's panel kept with Murrow's tradition of bringing panelists from all sides of the political spectrum. Noonan worked as a speechwriter for Republican Presidents George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan, while Eric Fehrnstrom was press secretary for former Mass. Governor and former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Matt Bai (A '90), an author and political writer for the New York Times Magazine, is a registered independent.
"We wanted to have people not just from a range of occupational viewpoints but also political viewpoints," Primack said. "It was a nicely, nicely balanced panel and it paid off in a very robust
conversation."
