FREE PUBLIC LECTURE: Cokie Roberts, Nina Totenberg, and Linda Wertheimer (Event Over)

The Ford Hall Forum Free Public Lecture and Discussion Series presents Cokie Roberts, Nina Totenberg, and Linda Wertheimer Recipients of the 2006 Louis P. and Evelyn Smith First Amendment Award Program will be moderated by Callie Crossley Friday, December 1, 6:30 pm at the Old South Meeting House (directions at www.fordhallforum.org/directions.h...) -FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC- From Watergate to the confirmation hearings of Samuel Alito, from the Reagan Revolution to war in Iraq – the highly praised and award-winning coverage of Cokie Roberts, Nina Totenberg and Linda Wertheimer has shed light on the people, institutions, and social forces shaping our nation. In print, on television, and, most notably, over National Public Radio airwaves, their groundbreaking journalism has not only changed the way millions of Americans view their country and their world, but also had a profound impact on the profession of broadcasting. They join us tonight to receive the Ford Hall Forum's Louis P. and Evelyn Smith First Amendment Award and share their thoughts on their life and work. Cokie Roberts Cokie Roberts is a political commentator for ABC News and serves as a senior news analyst for National Public Radio. From 1996 to 2002 she and Sam Donaldson co-anchored the weekly ABC interview program, This Week. In her more than thirty years in broadcasting, Roberts has won countless awards, including two Emmys and highest honor in public radio, the Edward R. Murrow Award. She has been inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame, and was cited by the American Women in Radio and Television as one of the fifty greatest women in the history of broadcasting. She is the author of the national bestseller We Are Our Mother's Daughters as well as Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation. Her op-ed columns have appeared in The New York Times and The Washington Post, and she has also written for The New York Times Magazine, USA Weekend Magazine and The Atlantic. In February 2000, she published From This Day Forward, an account of her more-than-30-year marriage, as well as other marriages in American history. A 1964 graduate in political science from Wellesley College, Roberts received a 1985 Distinguished Alumnae Achievement Award in recognition of "excellence and distinction in professional pursuits." She is the recipient of over 15 honorary degrees and was appointed by President George W. Bush to the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation. Nina Totenberg Nina Totenberg is National Public Radio's legal affairs correspondent. Her reports air regularly on NPR's critically acclaimed newsmagazines All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and Weekend Edition. She is also a regular panelist on Inside Washington, a weekly syndicated public affairs television program produced in the nation's capital. Totenberg's coverage of the Supreme Court and legal affairs has won her widespread recognition, including the Long Island University George Polk Award for excellence in journalism, the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Silver Baton, and the Joan S. Barone Award for excellence in Washington-based national affairs/public policy reporting. In 1991, she shared in the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award with NPR for its coverage of Thomas's Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Judge Clarence Thomas. Totenberg was named Broadcaster of the Year and honored with the 1998 Sol Taishoff Award for Excellence in Broadcasting from the National Press Foundation. She is the first radio journalist to receive the award. She is also the recipient of the American Judicature Society's first-ever award honoring a career body of work in the field of journalism and the law. Totenberg has been honored seven times by the American Bar Association for continued excellence in legal reporting and has received a number of honorary degrees. On a lighter note, in 1992 and 1988 Esquire magazine named her one of the "Women We Love." A frequent contributor to major newspapers and periodicals, she has published articles in The New York Times Magazine, The Harvard Law Review, The Christian Science Monitor, Parade Magazine, New York Magazine, and others. Linda Wertheimer Linda Wertheimer is National Public Radio’s senior national correspondent. She joined NPR at the network's inception, and served as All Things Considered's first director starting with its debut on May 3, 1971. In the more than 30 years since, she has served NPR in a variety of roles including reporter and host. From 1974 to 1989, Wertheimer provided coverage of national politics and Congress for NPR, serving as its congressional and then national political correspondent. In 1976, Wertheimer became the first woman to anchor network coverage of a presidential nomination convention and of election night. She later became the first person ever to broadcast live from inside the United States Senate chamber. She has received numerous journalism awards, including awards from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, from American Women in Radio/TV, and from the American Legion. In 1997 Wertheimer was named as one of the top 50 journalists in Washington by Washingtonian Magazine, and in 1998 as one of America's 200 most influential women by Vanity Fair. A 1964 graduate of Wellesley College, Wertheimer received its highest alumni honor in 1985, the Distinguished Alumna Achievement Award. Wertheimer holds honorary degrees from Colby College, Wheaton College, and Illinois Wesleyan University. Her 1995 book, Listening to America: Twenty-five Years in the Life of a Nation as Heard on National Public Radio celebrates NPR's history. Callie Crossley is a seasoned broadcast professional whose portfolio includes commentary, media criticism, and speaking, as well as producing and directing television and film. Ms. Crossley is a regular panelist on the WGBH-TV program "Beat the Press." Most recently she's appeared on CNN and NPR as a commentator. Prior to her current work, Ms. Crossley spent thirteen years as a network television producer for ABC News "20/20." She was also a producer of the documentary Eyes on the Prize, the award-winning series on the civil rights movement produced in the mid-1980s. Her award credits include a national Emmy, an Edward R. Murrow award, an award from the American Women in Radio and Television, and the Alfred I. Dupont-Columbia award. Callie Crossley is a graduate of Wellesley College, was a Neiman Fellow at Harvard University, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Ford Hall Forum. Since 1908, the Ford Hall Forum has been fostering civic dialogue, enriching public education, and honoring free speech through the presentation of free public lectures and discussion. As the nation’s oldest public lecture series, it has a storied past as a venue for some of the most intriguing figures in our nation’s modern history: from Eleanor Roosevelt to Margaret Sanger; Robert Frost to Martin Luther King, Jr.; Clarence Darrow to Malcolm X; Ayn Rand to Norman Mailer; and Al Gore to Ralph Reed. Most recently, it has addressed such thorny issues as stem cell research, same-sex marriage, and the war on terror. For the past twenty-five years, the Ford Hall Forum’s Louis P. and Evelyn Smith First Amendment Award has honored individuals who have demonstrated extraordinary commitment to promoting and facilitating the thoughtful exercise of our rights of freedom of expression. Previous recipients include, among others, Rosa Parks, Pete Seeger, Maya Angelou and Daniel Schorr. For more information log onto www.fordhallforum.org or contact Alex Minier at 617-373-5800, alex@fordhallforum.org. Programs of the Ford Hall Forum are made possible through contributions from individual members as well as corporations and foundations, including The Boston Foundation, The Colonnade Hotel, The Fred and Marty Corneel Fund, Houghton Chemical Corporation, Levine Katz Nannis + Solomon P.C., The Lowell Institute, Massachusetts Cultural Council, The Nellie Mae Education Foundation, and Northeastern University. The 2006 First Amendment Award is sponsored by Fidelity Investments, WBUR 90.9, and Boston Private Bank & Trust Company, Many Ford Hall Forum programs are made available online by our partners at the WGBH Forum Network. To download free audio and video of recent events, visit http://forum.wgbh.org/wgbh/forum.php?.... The Ford Hall Forum presents this program in collaboration with the Old South Meeting House, as part of their Partners in Public Dialogue Series. Old South Meeting House is a non-profit museum and historic site, located on the Freedom Trail, dedicated to sustaining the building’s tradition as a community-gathering place for the free exchange of ideas and to provide a place where people can connect the issues of the past with the issues of today. It receives support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency, and other public and private sources. Visit www.oldsouthmeetinghouse.org for more information.