The Sun Valley Center for the Arts' lecture series continues with a panel discussion of three distinguished journalists—CNBC-TV's Julia Boorstin, The Nation's Art Melber and the Los Angeles Times' Mark Barabak. The discussion moderator will be former CBS and Fox News President Van Gordon Sauter.
"We started the lecture series in September with NPR's Mara Liasson, who was able to help explain how politics is covered day to day and to give us insight into her experience with this and previous elections," said Britt Udesen, The Center's director of education and humanities. "In the five months since then, we have sworn in our first African-American president and been energized as a nation by the process."
Boorstin joined CNBC in 2006 as a general assignment reporter and soon became the media and entertainment reporter at CNBC's Los Angeles bureau. She covers media with a special focus on the intersection of media and technology. Prior to joining CNBC, she
was a business writer and reporter at Fortune magazine. She has also worked for the State Department's delegation to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and for Vice President Gore's Domestic Policy Office.
Melber is a correspondent for The Nation magazine, the oldest political weekly in America, a writer for The Nation's blog and a columnist for Politico. During the 2008 general election, he traveled with the Obama campaign on special assignment for The Washington Independent. He previously served as a legislative aide in the U.S. Senate and as a national staff member of the 2004 John Kerry presidential campaign. As a commentator on public affairs, Melber frequently speaks on national television and radio. His writings on politics and social media have been widely cited by news organizations across the political spectrum, from The New York Times to CNN and FOX News.
Barabak covers state and national politics for the Los Angeles Times. He has been a newspaper reporter for more than three decades, covering campaigns and elections in 48 of the 50 states, including all or part of the last eight presidential contests. After starting his career as a
legal affairs reporter for News West News Service, a San Diego cooperative, Barabak worked for United Press International in San Diego, Phoenix and Los Angeles, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Washington bureau of Copley News Service.
In 1968 Sauter joined CBS and over 18 years held a variety of jobs, eventually ascending to news chief. He later joined Fox News and became general manager of KVIE public television in Sacramento. A part-time Wood River Valley resident for 20 years, Sauter is famously opinionated and a lightning rod for controversy.
"It will be a joy to introduce three journalists with such a wide range of professional backgrounds and curiosities all focused on where our society and this new administration seem to be heading," Sauter said. "They will be far more interesting and insightful than the painfully familiar talking heads on the cable channels."
The journalism panel will be held Monday, Feb. 9, at 7 p.m. at nexStage Theatre in Ketchum. Tickets are $15 for The Center members and $20 for non-members. To purchase tickets, visit sunvalleycenter.org, call 726-9491, ext. 10, or stop by The Center in Ketchum.
Sabina Dana Plasse: splasse@mtexpress.com
Fox News President Van Gordon Sauter Photo by
