FACT SHEET
TITLE:
FUELING OUR FUTURE:
A FRED FRIENDLY SEMINAR
LENGTH:
1/60
NOLA CODE:
FUFF 000 SD-Base Revision 001
CATEGORY:
News & Public Affairs/ Current Events
OFFERED:
Summer 2008 Teleconference
RELEASE DATE:
October 12, 2008
CONTRACT TERMS:
Primary broadcast rights: Six (6) releases to be
completed by October 11, 2012. (A release is
defined as unlimited use within seven days).
Multicast rights: Unlimited use through October
11, 2012. Noncommercial cable, one-year
school re-record, and video-on-demand rights
have been granted.
PROGRAM SUPPLIER:
Fred Friendly
Presentations
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION:
A skilled moderator (CNN’s Frank Sesno), a
hypothetical situation (a newly elected U.S.
president faces a crippling energy crisis), and a
distinguished panel of scientists, business
leaders, politicians, and journalists who assume
roles within the scenario, highlight the tough
decisions America must face in order to “fuel
the
future.”
As
panelists
including
environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., former
CIA director Jim Woolsey, Nobel Prize-winning
scientist Dr. Stephen Schneider, New York
Times reporter Andy Revkin and activist L.
Hunter Lovins wrestle with the choices
confronting them, a drama emerges. Fueling
Our Future approaches the topic from many
angles and offers a range of solutions. The
tried-and-true format of Fred Friendly Seminars,
a timely and complex topic with no easy
answers, and an engaging, bright and
outspoken panel, make for an entertaining,
compelling and informative viewing experience.
-more-
Seminars,
Inc.
via
APT
FUELING OUR FUTURE /2
FACT SHEET
PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS:
Use above for listing. Kit includes: a press
release and host, panelist and production
biographies.
All
materials,
including
photography, are available on APTonline.org.
OUTREACH:
An outreach plan, with opportunities for stations
to partner with schools, non-profits, government
and non-partisan groups, is in development.
Outreach
coordinator:
Donna
Hardwick,
310-399-0984, dhardwick@onandonpr.com.
PRODUCTION DATE:
©2008 Fred Friendly Seminars, Inc.
PRODUCTION CREDITS:
Host:
Frank
Sesno.
Producers:
Mark
Ganguzza, Joan Greco, Dirk Fukushima.
Writer:
Joan
Greco.
Broadcast
Producer/Director: Mark Ganguzza. Editors:
Kerry Soloway, Jason Steneck. Senior Program
Advisor: Ruth Friendly. Executive Director:
Barbara Margolis. Executive Producer: Richard
Kilberg. Associate Producer: Jason Steneck.
Production Associate: April Mosqus.
UNDERWRITER:
Blue Planet Foundation
Local underwriting permitted, with the exception
of oil companies and utility companies.
BROADCAST HISTORY:
U.S. television premiere
SCHEDULING SUGGESTION:
Pair with Frontline “Heat” or schedule during the
2008 election season.
RELATED MERCHANDISE:
Individual viewer purchase: This program will
be available on DVD. To order, please call 800257-5126 or visit www.films.com.
VIEWER INQUIRIES:
info@fredfriendly.org
WEB SITE:
www.fredfriendly.org
PRESS CONTACT:
Donna Hardwick
on anD on PR
(310) 399-0984
dhardwick@onandonpr.com
STATION CONTACT:
Dawn Anderson
American Public Television
(617) 338-4455, ext. 149
dawn_anderson@APTonline.org
CONTACT: Dawn Anderson
(617) 338-4455, ext. 149
dawn_anderson@APTonline.org
PRESS RELEASE
FUELING OUR FUTURE:
A FRED FRIENDLY SEMINAR
Are There Alternatives To $5 Per Gallon Gas?
Can We Afford Them? Can We Live With Them?
New Special Looks at Tough Choices and Promising Opportunities
Surrounding America’s Energy Crisis
(Boston, August 15, 2008) With gasoline prices soaring toward $5.00 a gallon and rising
heating oil costs straining their budgets, American consumers are demanding answers
to the energy crisis.
The good news: fuel efficiency and alternative sources of energy (wind, solar and wave
power) are not only achievable goals, but they can also create a vast new industry and
drive the economy. But at what cost? And to whom? The trade-offs could prove daunting
and balancing competing interests can pose unexpected and agonizing choices.
Fueling Our Future: A Fred Friendly Seminar, premiering on public television stations
nationwide on October 12, 2008 (check local listings), explores this urgent issue and
considers the difficult challenges ahead. The one-hour special, moderated by CNN’s
Frank Sesno, puts politicians, business executives, environmentalists and scientists on
the hot seat. The timely hypothetical scenario — the signature format of the Fred
Friendly Seminars — will resonate with American voters, particularly as this issue is at
the forefront of the 2008 election season.
The hypothetical action begins in early 2009 as America’s newly-elected president
receives a grim CIA intelligence estimate about the state of America’s energy and fossil
fuels. Oil prices are poised to spike — again. This throws the fledgling administration
and the country into immediate crisis mode, while threatening to transform the way
Americans live, run their businesses and think about their use — and abuse — of
energy.
As a result, the president urgently convenes his cabinet and trusted advisors to assess
the implications of soaring fuel costs for home-owners, agriculture, Wall Street and
national security, not to mention his bid for re-election in four years. He not only must
find answers to the crisis, but also present the viable solutions to a dubious American
public.
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FUELING OUR FUTURE /2
PRESS RELEASE
Former CIA director Jim Woolsey, in the role of energy secretary, takes a hard stand: “I
think it’s time to destroy oil’s monopoly. You can rally people if they have something that
they can fight about and with. And the enemy is oil.” Environmentalist Robert Kennedy,
Jr., in the fitting role of the administration’s energy czar, believes that the country’s
addiction to oil is more critical than foreign threats, and the true cost of fossil fuels are
not confronted at the pump. Kennedy raises the stakes, explaining, “We’re already
paying $10 a gallon for gasoline in this country, $10 to $12 dollars a gallon. The thing is
that we’re not paying it at the pump. It’s hidden in your tax bills. We are already paying
those costs. Those issues need to be explained to the American people in terms they
can understand. They need to be told that they’re on a war footing.”
Nobel Prize-winning scientist Dr. Stephen Schneider also weighs in on the need to put
into perspective any “long-term solutions.” The place to start, he suggests, is to strip
away the hidden subsidies currently rigging the marketplace.
The panel then evaluates the realities of the situation. How do elected officials survive
politically if they take on “Big Oil”? How will financial markets react to radical reduction of
America’s oil-based economy? If the U.S. shifts to alternative sources, like wind power,
how should the country balance the interests of the communities burdened by turbines
on their landscape with the needs of larger society? And will those focusing on big
solutions overlook more direct measures that can yield significant energy savings?
Bill Paul, the energy journalist and author, cast as the president’s communications
coordinator, suggests promoting quick solutions. “One, you say to every employer,
encourage telecommuting. Keep every worker at home who does not have to get into a
car and drive to work. Number two, you say to every mayor of every city, ‘Expand your
bus lines.’ Bring back all buses you possibly can. Create bus-free days to get these folks
out of the cars,” he suggests.
More novel solutions emerge as the dialogue continues. The panel puts fee-bates,
carbon-credits, tax incentives, smart grids and new technologies on the table. L. Hunter
Lovins, an expert on profitable models of environmentally sustainable businesses, says,
“Americans are buying these technologies in droves. The renewable energy industry
went from a $50 billion a year industry in 2006 to $150 billion industry in 2007. And we’re
two years beyond that. This is now the fastest-growing sector of the economy.”
However, getting the American public to embrace the idea remains one of the biggest
hurdles. Even with the most innovative policies and creative technologies, many
consumers will feel the impact of transitioning away from fossil fuels, whether in their
paycheck, their lifestyle or their backyard. Joe Keefe, CEO of a mutual fund that invests
only in socially responsible companies, believes in the good sense of the public. Keefe
offers this optimistic advice, “The American people aren’t going to expect you to solve
this in your first term, Mr. President. They are going to expect a president who is leading
our way through it…. they didn’t expect President Kennedy to land on the moon before
the ‘64 election. He said, ‘We’re gonna be there by the end of the decade.’ If you’re
moving on all fronts and you’re building a sustainable energy portfolio for the country
and you’re showing progress that should be good enough.”
-more-
FUELING OUR FUTURE /3
PRESS RELEASE
Fueling Our Future: A Fred Friendly Seminar offers a range of solutions — wind and
solar power, among them — from many angles. Fred Friendly Seminars’ tried-and-true
format, a current and challenging topic with no easy answers, and an engaging, bright
and outspoken panel, make for an entertaining, compelling and informative viewing
experience.
Produced in 2008, Fueling Our Future: A Fred Friendly Seminar is supplied by Fred
Friendly Seminars, Inc. at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and
presented by American Public Television through the Exchange service at no cost to
public television stations nationwide. Broadcast Producer/Director: Mark Ganguzza.
Executive Producer: Richard Kilberg. For the Fred Friendly Seminars: Executive
Director Barbara Margolis and Senior Editorial Director Ruth Friendly.
Fueling Our Future: A Fred Friendly Seminar was produced on location in Oahu,
Hawaii, during the Blue Planet Summit, which gathered influential and informed world
leaders, energy experts, environmentalists and artists for a three-day global energy
conference. Funding for Fueling Our Future is provided by Blue Planet Foundation,
working to change our world’s energy culture, to raise global awareness in order to
develop and adopt practical programs to implement clean, efficient and renewable
energy and to create a global response to our increasingly urgent crisis.
About Fred Friendly Seminars
Fred Friendly Seminars is widely recognized for using its Socratic process to go beyond
the clichés and rigid position-taking that often pass for discussion of contemporary
issues. The format was originally developed by legendary journalist Fred Friendly using
hypothetical scenarios, role-playing and a skilled moderator to push panelists to confront
what they would do in a complicated situation where the ‘right’ choice is not clear. First
based at the Ford Foundation and then as a program of the Columbia University
Graduate School of Journalism, well over one hundred television programs have been
produced using this format. Topics have included: The First Amendment and journalism,
the judiciary and civil liberties, health care policy, business ethics, and national security
issues. For more information about programs and services, visit fredfriendly.org.
About American Public Television
With more than 10,000 hours of programming in its library, American Public Television
(APT) has been a prime source of programming for the nation’s public television stations
for 47 years, distributing more than 300 new program titles per year. In 2006, APT
launched Create – the TV channel featuring the best of public television’s lifestyle
programming. Known for its leadership in identifying innovative, worthwhile and viewerfriendly programming, APT has established a tradition of providing public television
stations with program choices that strengthen and customize their schedules, such as
Rick Steves’ Europe, Globe Trekker, Simply Ming, Sara’s Weeknight Meals, America’s
Test Kitchen From Cook’s Illustrated, Doc Martin, Broadway: The Golden Age, Lidia’s
Family Table, Rosemary and Thyme, P. Allen Smith’s Garden Home, The Big Comfy
Couch, Celine Dion: A New Day, Queen Rock Montreal, Monarchy With David Starkey,
Spain...on the road Again, and other prominent documentaries, dramatic series, how-to
programs, children’s series and classic movies. For more information about APT’s
programs and services, visit APTonline.org.
HOST AND PANELIST
BIOGRAPHIES
FUELING OUR FUTURE:
A FRED FRIENDLY SEMINAR
Host: Frank Sesno
A CNN special correspondent, Sesno provides enterprise reporting and analysis for the
network on a wide range of issues that touch people’s lives. An Emmy award-winning
journalist, Sesno formerly served as CNN’s Washington, D.C. bureau chief. Sesno’s
reporting can be seen network-wide including on CNN Presents, the network’s flagship
documentary program.
In 2006, Sesno reported on global oil production and consumption for CNN Presents:
“We Were Warned – Tomorrow’s Oil Crisis.” Among Sesno’s most memorable reporting
in 2005 was his two-part depiction of Rania Attar, an Iraqi women leading a life plagued
by tragedy, as she moves to suburban Virginia to start a new life.
As an independent commentator and filmmaker, Sesno has appeared on public
television and radio, the History Channel and other networks. His recent work has
included hosting duties for Sesno Reports for public television; production of a four-part,
eight-hour PBS documentary series about weapons of mass destruction and terrorism
called Avoiding Armageddon; and a 10-part series about global perspectives called
worldtalk. In 2002, Sesno reported and produced Ronald Reagan: A Legacy
Remembered, a two-hour documentary for the History Channel.
Sesno spent 17 years at CNN, serving as a news anchor, analyst and reporter. For
seven years, he hosted Late Edition With Frank Sesno, the network’s flagship weekend
interview program. As D.C. bureau chief, Sesno was responsible for staffing and news
coverage in the nation’s capital.
Before joining CNN in 1984, Sesno worked with Associated Press Radio as a White
House, national and overseas correspondent based in London. Sesno has won several
prestigious journalism awards, including an Emmy, several Cable ACE awards, a Cine
Award for Avoiding Armageddon and an Overseas Press Club award. Sesno also serves
as a professor of public policy and communication at George Mason University in
Fairfax, Virginia.
Panelist: Eliot Assimakopoulos
Eliot Assimakopoulos serves as business development manager for renewable energy
systems at General Electric’s Global R&D Center. Assimakopoulos has more than 13
years experience in the construction, energy, and high technology industries. For the
past several years, he has led efforts within GE to advance technology development for
renewable energy and to establish partnerships with state, federal and commercial
organizations to achieve sustainability objectives. He was also helped frame what
eventually became GE’s ecomagination initiative. Previous to this, Assimakopoulos
served as executive vice president for MetroNexus, a $1.2B global technology asset
company he founded with Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. Additionally, he has worked with
other technology companies such as Teleglobe International and MCI Communications.
He was an officer in the United States Marine Corps and a graduate of the Virginia
Military Institute and holds an MBA from American Intercontinental University.
Panelist: James Harkness
James Harkness is the president of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP).
He spent 16 years living in China and working on conservation and sustainable
development issues, including seven years as head of the World Wildlife Fund China
program. From 1995-1999, Harkness worked as the Ford Foundation’s environment and
development program officer for China. Harkness has written and spoken frequently on
China and sustainable development, and has served as an adviser for the World Bank
and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. In July 2006, Harkness took
over leadership of IATP, an international non-governmental “think and do tank.” IATP’s
mission is to work at the intersection of policy and practice to ensure fair and sustainable
food, farm and trade systems. IATP was one the first groups to call for development of
sustainability criteria for biofuel production, and is active in the Sustainable Biodiesel
Alliance.
Panelist: Joseph F. Keefe
Joseph F. Keefe is president and chief executive officer of Pax World Funds, which
launched the nation’s first socially responsible mutual fund in 1971, and currently
manages approximately $2.7 billion across six mutual funds focusing on sustainable
investing – the full integration of environmental, social and governance criteria into
investment analysis and decision making. Ethisphere Magazine recently named Keefe
one of the “100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics” for 2007. He co-chairs the
Carbon Coalition, a New Hampshire-based citizens group working on climate change
solutions; co-chairs New Hampshire ONE Vote ‘08, a voter education project of the ONE
Campaign focusing on the eradication of global poverty; and serves on the board of
directors of Americans for Campaign Reform, devoted to public funding of federal
elections. He is a former Democratic Nominee for United States Congress in New
Hampshire’s First Congressional District, and a former Chair of the New Hampshire
Democratic Party.
Panelist: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s reputation as a resolute defender of the environment stems
from a litany of successful legal actions during his 25 years as environmental advocate
and litigator. Time Magazine named Kennedy one of its “Heroes for the Planet” for his
leadership of Riverkeeper’s fight to restore the Hudson River. The group’s achievement
helped spawn more than 170 Waterkeeper organizations across the world. A graduate of
Harvard University and the University of Virginia Law School, Kennedy serves as senior
attorney for the National Resources Defense Council, chief prosecuting attorney for the
Hudson Riverkeeper and chairman of Waterkeeper Alliance. He is also a clinical
professor and supervising attorney at Pace University School of Law’s Environmental
Litigation Clinic and co-hosts Ring of Fire on Air America Radio. Kennedy’s published
books include: Crimes Against Nature (2004) The Riverkeepers (1997) and Judge Frank
M. Johnson, Jr: A Biography (1977).
Panelist: Steven L. Kline
As vice president of corporate environmental and federal affairs for PG&E Corporation,
Steven L. Kline is responsible for environmental policy activities and for oversight of the
Corporation’s Washington, D.C. office. He also serves as the senior liaison with federal
elected and regulatory officials. Kline joined Pacific Gas and Electric Company in 1985
and was elected to his current position in 1998. Prior to that, he was vice president of
regulation at Pacific Gas and Electric Company, responsible for overseeing federal and
state regulatory activities, revenue requirements and cost of services. Kline participated
in the California Collaborative that produced the Energy Efficiency Blueprint for
California, a guide for California to reassert its leadership in energy efficiency. He also
serves on the Advisory Council for Resources for the Future, Executive Leadership
Council for The Nature Conservancy and on the board of trustees at Coe College.
Panelist: L. Hunter Lovins
L. Hunter Lovins presides over Natural Capitalism Solutions (NCS). She founded the
company to educate senior decision-makers in business, government and civil society to
restore and enhance natural and human capital while increasing prosperity and quality of
life. In partnership with leading thinkers and implementers, NCS creates innovative,
practical tools and strategies to enable companies, communities and countries to
become more sustainable. Trained as a sociologist and lawyer (JD), Lovins co-founded
the California Conservation Project (Tree People) and Rocky Mountain Institute, which
she led for 20 years. Lovins has consulted for scores of industries and governments
worldwide, including: the International Finance Corporation, Wal-Mart, the Pentagon,
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy and others. Lovins,
named as one of Time Magazine’s 2000 “Heroes of the Planet,” has co-authored nine
books and hundreds of papers. She is currently a founding professor of business at
Presidio School of Management, among the first accredited programs offering an MBA in
sustainable management.
Panelist: Pete McCloskey
A 15-year veteran of the U.S. Congress, Pete McCloskey was one of the lead authors of
many of today’s major environmental laws. Known as an outspoken “Teddy Roosevelt”
Republican, he co-chaired the first Earth Day in 1970, served six years as congressional
delegate to the International Whaling Conference and served as congressional advisor
to the Law of the Sea Treaty Delegation. He speaks on law and “bare-knuckles”
environmental politics, and he expresses his strong concern about the state of the global
environment and about the United States’ “backsliding” in the struggle to protect it.
Panelist: Representative Hermina M. Morita
Elected to the House of Representatives in 1997, representing East and North Kauai,
Hermina M. Morita chairs the Energy & Environmental Protection Committee. She is a
member of the Advisory Committee on Energy of the National Conference of State
Legislature’s Energy Project and National Committee on Electricity Policy. In 1997, she
was awarded the prestigious Arthur S. Flemming Fellowship given to emerging political
leaders in the United States. In June 2002, she received an honorable mention as a
finalist for the Good Housekeeping Award for Women in Government. She received the
EPA’s 2003 Outstanding Environmental Achievement Award, Region IX, for her work on
environmental issues. She received a fellowship from the Eleanor Roosevelt Global
Leadership Institute as one of 12 state legislators selected for a study tour of China
focused on environmental, energy and trade issues.
Panelist: Bill Paul
A national energy and environmental journalist for more than 30 years, former Wall
Street Journal reporter Bill Paul has covered energy issues from the U.S., Europe and
the Middle East. Paul is a former special energy correspondent for CNBC and current
editor/publisher of Earth Preservers, an award-winning energy and environmental
newspaper for school children. He is also the managing editor and majority owner of the
new financial news site, EnergyTechStocks.com. Paul also authored the business and
public-affairs book, Future Energy: How the New Oil Industry Will Change People,
Politics and Portfolios.
Panelist: Kenneth E. Pringle
Under Mayor Kenneth E. Pringle’s leadership, Belmar, New Jersey has pursued
numerous green initiatives since 1990. Belmar made headlines as the first community in
the continental United States to designate non-smoking areas on its beaches. The U.S.
Green Building Council, now included in its LEED-Neighborhood Development pilot
program, recognized Belmar’s award-winning plans for sustainable redevelopment of its
downtown. As a member of the board of directors of New Jersey Transit, Mayor Pringle
has pushed for the adoption of a wide-ranging sustainability plan for the agency, the
installation of solar panels on its buildings and stations, station car partnerships with carshare companies and a pilot project to convert its diesel trains to biofuel.
Panelist: Andrew Revkin
Andrew Revkin, the award-winning science writer for The New York Times, has authored
three lauded books on the environment. In a career spanning a quarter century, he has
covered global environmental issues from the Amazon to the North Pole in print,
podcasts, photography, video and, most recently, in his popular Dot Earth blog. His first
book, The Burning Season, chronicled the life of Chico Mendes, the slain Amazon
activist, and served as the basis for the HBO film of the same name. His most recent
book, The North Pole Was Here, is geared to younger readers. He spearheaded the
award-winning Times series on transforming the Arctic, the rich-poor climate divide and
the energy challenge underlying the climate issue.
Panelist: Stephen H. Schneider
Stephen H. Schneider is a Melvin and Joan Lane professor for interdisciplinary
environmental studies, professor of biological sciences and a senior fellow in the Woods
Institute for the Environment at Stanford University. He served as an NCAR scientist
from 1973-1996, co-founded the Climate Project and consulted for White House staff in
six administrations. Dr. Schneider and four generations of IPCC authors received a
collective Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts in 2007. Elected to the U.S. National
Academy of Sciences in 2002, he received the American Association for the
Advancement of Science/ Westinghouse Award for Public Understanding of Science and
Technology and a MacArthur Fellowship. The founder/editor of Climatic Change has
authored or co-authored hundreds of books and scientific papers and has been featured
in numerous productions. Dr. Schneider counsels policy makers, corporate executives
and others about using risk management strategies in climate policy decision-making,
given the uncertainties in future projections of global climate change.
Panelist: Amy Seidl
The associate director of LivingFuture Foundation, Amy Seidl joined the LFF/Teal Farm
in August 2005 looking to integrate her background in ecology with her social change
and entrepreneurial nature. She holds a masters degree in Entomology from Colorado
State University and a Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Vermont, where her
dissertation research focused on the effect of climate change on butterflies. Seidl has
taught at the University of Vermont and Middlebury College and is currently a research
scholar at Middlebury. Her forthcoming book, Early Spring: Waking to a Warming World,
examines global warming, exploring its effect on our sense of season and time and the
future of life.
Panelist: R. James Woolsey
R. James Woolsey is a partner and vice president of Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. Prior to
2002 Woolsey worked as an attorney with Shea & Gardner in Washington D.C.,
specializing in commercial litigation and alternative dispute resolution (arbitration and
mediation). He practiced at the firm for 22 years on four different occasions and served
five times in the federal government, holding presidential appointments in two
Democratic and two Republican administrations. He served as Director of Central
Intelligence (1993-95), Ambassador and Chief Negotiator for the Conventional Armed
Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty in Vienna (1989-91), Delegate at Large (on a part-time
basis) to the Strategic Arms Reductions Talks (START) and the Defense and Space
Talks in Geneva (1983-86), Under Secretary of the Navy (1977-79), and General
Counsel to the U.S. Senate committee on Armed Services (1970-73). He has served on
numerous corporate and non-profit boards, and contributes articles to various periodicals
on such issues as national security, energy, foreign affairs and intelligence.
PRODUCER AND EXECUTIVE
BIOGRAPHIES
FUELING OUR FUTURE:
A FRED FRIENDLY SEMINAR
Mark Ganguzza (Broadcast Producer/Director)
Mark Ganguzza has been involved in the production of major TV news programs and
special events for the last 35 years. After almost 13 years at CBS, he moved on to
independent production for many different and widely recognized projects for PBS,
including Fred Friendly Seminars, various Bill Moyers programs, WideAngle, Charlie
Rose, as well as programming for BBC, Lifetime and many national foundations and
associations. Ganguzza’s work has received many awards, the most recent being a
2003 Alfred I. duPont Silver Baton award.
Joan Greco (Writer)
Joan Greco began her association with Fred Friendly Seminars while an editor of the
Harvard Law Review. Her first effort involved the creation of the hypothetical case used
in the Emmy-winning program, The Sovereign Self: Right to Live, Right to Die. Since
then, she has contributed to more than 30 national Fred Friendly programs, including
Failure to Protect: A National Dialogue, winner of a 2004 duPont-Columbia University
Award for Broadcast Journalism; Anatomy of a Libel Case, winner of an ABA Silver
Gavel Award; and critically acclaimed programs on subjects as wide-ranging as
genetics, third-world capitalism, criminal justice, end-of-life decisions and affirmative
action. In addition, Greco produced and wrote the hypothetical case for each program in
the Fred Friendly farewell series, That Delicate Balance II: Our Bill of Rights. She
clerked for Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the U.S. Court of Appeals and for Justice
Sandra Day O’Connor on the United States Supreme Court.
Ruth W. Friendly (Vice President and Senior Editorial Director)
For more than 10 years, Ruth Friendly has contributed to the production of numerous
Fred Friendly Seminars, including Ethics in America II, In the Balance: Terrorism, Our
Genes/Our Choices and Liberty & Limits: The Federalist Idea 200 Years Later and the
programs Who Cares: Chronic Illness in America, Disconnected: Politics, the Press and
the Public, Epidemic! and Beyond Black and White: Affirmative Action in America. She
also served as the outreach director for Who Cares: Chronic Illness in America. In 1980,
Friendly began working with her husband, Fred Friendly, to create and expand the
Columbia University Media & Society Seminars program. She has served as executive
producer, producer, editor or researcher on more than 80 hours of seminars
programming for PBS, including The Constitution: That Delicate Balance, That Delicate
Balance II: Our Bill of Rights, Managing Our Miracles: Health Care in America and Ethics
in America. Friendly has worked as a producer on more than 300 non-televised
seminars for medical, legal, educational, governmental and civic groups across the
country.
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Barbara Margolis (Executive Director)
At Fred Friendly Seminars, Inc., Barbara Margolis served as the supervising producer of
the PBS series Liberty & Limits: The Federalist Idea 200 Years Later, executive director
of Ethics in America II, In the Balance: Terrorism and Our Genes/Our Choices. Margolis
served as supervising producer on the programs Who Cares: Chronic Illness in America,
Disconnected: Politics, the Press and the Public, Epidemic!, Beyond Black and White:
Affirmative Action in America and Before I Die: Medical Care and Personal Choices. She
produced the three-part series Profits and Promises, including the programs
“Reinventing the Corporation,” “New Markets, New Challenges“ and “Reworking the
American Dream,” as well as “Juvenile Justice” and “Three Farewells: Medicine & the
End of Life” from the series Ethics in America II. Margolis also produced and directed
many distinguished films, among them the feature documentary Are We Winning,
Mommy? America and the Cold War, Oscar nominee Adam Clayton Powell, On the Line,
and the three-part series for PBS, Declarations: Essays on American Ideals. In addition,
she served as development director of the Independent Feature Project and authored In
Focus: A Guide to Using Films.
Richard Kilberg (President and Executive Producer)
At Fred Friendly Seminars, Inc., Richard Kilberg executive produced the Fred
Friendly/PBS series Ethics in America II, In the Balance: Terrorism, Our Genes/Our
Choices, Liberty & Limits: The Federalist Idea 200 Years Later and Profits and
Promises, as well as the specials, Disconnected: Politics, the Press and the Public,
Epidemic!, Beyond Black and White: Affirmative Action in America, Before I Die: Medical
Care and Personal Choices, Your Money and Your Life: America’s Managed Care
Revolution and Who Cares: Chronic Illness in America. He has produced a variety of
other distinguished television programming and his documentaries, Adam Clayton
Powell, Huey Long and The Brooklyn Bridge received two Academy Award nominations,
a DuPont-Columbia Award for Broadcast Journalism, an Ohio State Journalism Award, a
Christopher Medal, “Best of Festivals” awards and other honors. He has served as a
programming and production executive at PBS, HBO and independent television
production. He has also served as a management consultant for major media
corporations.
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