Honoring the Life and Work of Danny Schechter

Danny Schechter with daughter Sarah

"He's full of spirit and very expressive", those were the words Danny Schechter's mother, Ruth, wrote when he was still a toddler. Everyone who knew Danny Schechter as a journalist, filmmaker and author, will attest to this early and accurate description in his life: he was always full of spirit and never stopped expressing himself till his untimely death on March 17, 2015.

Last Saturday, June 27 - which was also Danny's birthday - my wife and I attended a celebration of his life in Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. The church was packed with friends and family from around the country and around the world, who had known Danny during one or more of his many chapters in life.

The celebration was kicked off with, for some, a bit of unusual music, the South African National Anthem, honoring Danny's close friendship with that country and his active role in its struggle against Apartheid, and was followed by an impressive number of speakers, such as his younger brother Bill who spoke about their childhood in the Bronx and their colorful family background as grandchildren of Russian immigrant grandparents. Other speakers who followed spoke about his fight for civil rights - from the US civil rights movement to South Africa and beyond -; his unique role at Boston radio station WBCN during the 1970s where he became known as "Danny Schechter, the News Dissector"; his multiple media activities with ABC and CNN, and later on independently as part of Globalvision with his longtime friend and business partner Rory O'Connor; and his role as loving son of his parents and father to his daughter Sarah.

A brief own view of his life was presented in this video, "Danny Schechter - In His Own Words"
 

In between the tributes, his friend Nenad Bach, a Croatian performer and peace activist, performed the following song, " Everything is Forever"

As I come closer to the end of this post, let me dedicate two memorable songs to Danny Schechter. The first is "Sun City", performed by Artists United Against Apartheid founded by Steven Van Zandt in 1985. Danny Schechter, who had met Van Zandt at that time and became instrumental in the production of "Sun City",  had suggested the song to be different from "We are the World" to be "about change, not charity, freedom, not famine"

 

Then the last song is "Danny Boy" performed by Roy Orbison, a song Danny had selected to be part of a compilation he created with his musical partner, Polar Levine, in January of this year. This is what he then wrote for this collection:

"When I was diagnosed with a serious cancer in 2014, one of my first purchases was a new turntable to find comfort in some of the music that made up the soundtrack for a life now at risk. I realized how important it was to me.........I wanted to give something back - to my many friends - by sharing some of the many songs that influenced me, kept me dancing and echoed my joy and outrage........These are the tracks of my hope. Danny Schechter, January 2015 "

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During this celebration service, two ways to honor Danny Schechter were presented. I call upon readers of this blog, of Danny's books, and followers of his films and other work to consider donating to one or both of these causes to honor his work, his life and his legacy: 

A Civil Right Memorial and History Project at Cornell University
A Civil Rights Memorial at Cornell University to preserve the memory of Michael Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman and the commitment of the Cornell students, like Danny, who went south before or during the Freedom Summer in 1964. In addition to the memorial, Danny helped create a fund to provide financial support to students who volunteer to do social justice work.


The Danny Schechter Global Vision Award for Journalism
The Global Center, a non-profit educational foundation dedicated to developing informative and socially responsible media and a new type of journalism in which the reporting of events and conditions is done in conjunction with those most affected by those events, is pleased to announce the creation of an annual award honoring the life and work of the late journalist, filmmaker and “News Dissector” Danny Schechter. The Danny Schechter Global Vision Award for Journalism will be given annually to a reporter who best emulates Schechter's practice of combining journalism with social activism and/or whose work is deserving of greater recognition and wider impact.

In addition to the award itself, which will be announced and promoted each year on or about Schechter's birthday of June 27th, each recipient will receive a  check in the amount of $3000 to support future reporting. Recipients will be chosen by a panel including daughter Sarah Schechter and business partner Rory O'Connor.

An anonymous donor has already contributed $15,000 to ensure that the award is fully funded for its first five years. Those interested in contributing further can make tax-deductible donations to The Global Center, an IRS-certified 501 (c) (3) foundation that is acting as fiscal sponsor for the award.

Checks should be sent to:

The Global Center
PO Box 677
New York, NY 10035

Danny Schechter (1942-2015), Journalist, Filmmaker, Author and Activist

It's with deep sadness that I have to announce that Danny Schechter, journalist, filmmaker, television producer, Cosimo author and friend died on March 19, 2015 after a battle with cancer.

Danny Schechter was a unique personality, in person and professionally. His media background started in the 1970s on the radio as "The News Dissector" at WBCN-FM in Boston, where he informed his listeners about the news infused with his typical sense of humor. In 1980, he joined CNN, the cable news network that just had been founded by Ted Turner, and later on he was a producer with the ABC News magazine 20/20, where he won two Emmy Awards. Independent-minded as he was, in 1988 he co-founded the production company Global Vision together with Rory O'Connor, where they produced many documentaries, including "South Africa Now", an award winning public television series.

Danny's passion always was on the crossroads of media and human rights: he reported on how the mass media informed or rather misinformed on many topics. He had maintained that the media were critical to a well-run democracy, but over the years realized that the media were no longer a solution to the problems in the world, but part of the problem. Danny also covered some of the major issues of our times: from the struggle against apartheid in South Africa and the civil war in Bosnia, to civil rights in the U.S., the debt crisis in this century with his film "In Debt We Trust: America before the Bubble Burst" and the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Danny Schechter was not only a radio host and filmmaker, but also an active blogger and author of 17 books. Among his books, he released the following with Cosimo: Plunder, Investigating our Economic Calamity and the Subprime Scandal, which was released in September, 2008 and was one of the first books describing the financial crisis that had just started to destroy jobs and the economy in the U.S. and Europe. His other books include, Blogothon: Reflections and Revelation from the News Dissector; and Occupy: Dissecting Occupy Wall Street. He wrote introductions to the classic The History of the Standard Oil Company by muckraker Ida Tarbell and to the U,S. government's The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report. Danny last book When South Africa Called, We Answered - How the Media and International Solidarity Helped Topple Apartheid was released in February on the same day, when he celebrated his 're-birthday", an event I was honored to be present at and when I had hoped that he had recovered from his serious illness.

I met Danny early this century during a conference, where I was impressed with his freshness of views on the media landscape in the U.S., and when he criticized the news media had become entertainment rather than information gathering entities. To me what made Danny so credible in his media criticism was that he had seen it all as an insider of the corporate media, and as an independent media pioneer. In 2004, I interviewed Danny in The Media: Weapons of Mass Deception. Re-reading that interview today shows both how visionary Danny was in his views on the state of the media and the state of democracy and also how eleven years later, things have hardly improved, to the contrary.

Danny Schechter was unique and nearly peerless, in that he bridged the experience of corporate and independent media. He combined his experience of a professional journalist with the passion and rebelliousness of an activist. He also bridged the era of when the networks were still all-important, which he understood so well, to the current times of new and social media, which he embraced wholeheartedly. This unique combination is rare among other leading journalists, and for that alone he will be sorely missed. On a more personal note, Danny lived in Chelsea, around the corner of our Cosimo office, and over the years I frequently met him for lunch or for a drink at the end of the day. We discussed the latest news and how mainstream media again failed to inform their audiences on what happened and why did it happen. We at Cosimo will miss Danny's writings and personal engagement with his publishing projects, and I personally will miss our conversations and his insights. He had so many ideas and observations: he died too soon.

See here for Facebook memorial page for Danny Schechter.

March Book of the Month: When South Africa Called, We Answered

As South Africa just celebrated the 20th anniversary of the fall of apartheid, author and award-winning journalist, Danny Schechter is back with a new book, and Cosimo is proud to announce the new release of When South Africa Called, We Answered: How the Media and International Solidarity Helped Topple Apartheid as our March Book of the Month.

In this book, Schechter describes the crucial role media played in anti-apartheid achieving worldwide recognition, which enabled outsiders to support the anti-apartheid movement. In Schechter's view, it were ultimately the joint efforts by leaders like the late Nelson Mandela, freedom fighters, activists and media that led to the downfall of apartheid in South Africa.

When South Africa Called, We Answered is an inspiring and educational read for those interested in the role of the media in historic world events, the history of South Africa, journalism, and activism that mobilizes people for the greater good.

When South Africa Called, We Answered is available in paperback and eBook at leading online bookstores, including Amazon (Paperback, Kindle) and Barnes & Noble.

For more information on this timely new release and March Book of the Month, see our press release.

About the Author
Danny Schechter is a writer, television producer, and independent filmmaker who also speaks about media and financial issues. He is the editor of Mediachannel.org and blogs daily as the News Dissector at NewsDissector.net. Schechter is the author of sixteen books and has produced and directed more than thirty documentaries and television specials. His blog was named the 2009 "Blog of the Year" by the Hunter College Media Department of the City University of New York.

New Book by Danny Schechter: When South Africa Called, We Answered

As South Africa just celebrated the 20th anniversary of the fall of apartheid, author and award-winning journalist, Danny Schechter is back with a new book, and Cosimo is proud to announce the release of When South Africa Called, We Answered: How the Media and International Solidarity Helped Topple Apartheid 

In this book, Schechter describes the crucial role media played in anti-apartheid achieving worldwide recognition, which enabled outsiders to support the anti-apartheid movement. In Schechter's view, it were ultimately the joint efforts by leaders like the late Nelson Mandela, freedom fighters, activists and media that led to the downfall of apartheid in South Africa.

With When South Africa Called, We Answered, Schechter shows he is not only a media veteran known for his work on radio, television, books and blogs, but is truly an expert on South Africa and apartheid. His expertise is previously shown in his other works such as his earlier book Madiba A to Z: The Many Faces of Nelson Mandela (Seven Stories Press, November 2013), a story-telling biography of Nelson Mandela, and in his numerous documentaries about South Africa and apartheid, including Mandela in America. 

In this book's Foreword, Tony Sutton (Editor of Coldtype in Toronto) aptly describes Schechter's role in South Africa:

" Look back at the major events in South Africa during the final decades of the apartheid era and you'll keep coming across the name of Danny Schechter --- organizing, cajoling, pulling strings and reporting the truth that an evil regime would have preferred to hide from an often ignorant and uncomprehending outside world"

Also other well-known public figures and journalists have praised Schechter for his work on South Africa:

“Danny Schechter's life-long involvement with the freedom movement in South Africa is very well known and respected."          

– Reverend Jesse Jackson, Civil Rights Leader and President of Rainbow Push

“Here is story-telling that is unique, refreshing, and revealing, and the Nelson Mandela who emerges is someone you will want to know. You will be both surprised by Mandela’s profoundly complex personality and grateful for Danny Schechter’s creative journalism."
— Bill Moyers, leading veteran journalist on Madiba A to Z.

When South Africa Called, We Answered is an inspiring and educational read for those interested in the role of the media in historic world events, the history of South Africa, journalism, and activism that mobilizes people for the greater good.

When South Africa Called, We Answered is available in paperback and eBook at leading online bookstores, including Amazon (Paperback, Kindle) and Barnes & Noble.

Please see our press release for more information.

Nelson Mandela 1918-2013

Today the memorial for Nelson Mandela is being held in Johannesburg. The interfaith ceremony features prayers, eulogies by members of Mandela's family, and remarks by four presidents and a vice-president. It is expected that the 95,000-capacity stadium where the memorial will take place will be filled, and fittingly so for a man whose impact on the world he leaves behind is inexpressible. As South African President Jacob Zuma said:

"Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father. Although we knew that this day would come, nothing can diminish our sense of a profound and enduring loss. His tireless struggle for freedom earned him the respect of the world. His humility, his compassion, and his humanity earned him their love."

We feature today an interview with Cosimo author Danny Schechter, who has spent years working in South Africa and released six films about Mandela. Schechter most recently published Madiba A to Z: The Many Faces of Nelson Mandela in conjunction with the release of the Mandela biopic Long Walk to Freedom. In an interview with Democracy Now!, Schechter talks about Mandela's enduring legacy and his experiences in South Africa.

For more on South African history and Mandela's influence, check out Schechter's Blogothon: Reflections and Revelations from the News Dissector, available for Kindle, Nook, and in paperback. In Blogothon, Schechter devotes a chapter to his experiences in South Africa over the first decade of the 21st century, including the corruption and deprivation he witnessed "Twenty-one Years After 'Freedom'". We also recommend readers interested in understanding the foundations of apartheid in South Africa pick up a copy of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Great Boer War, which details the war in South Africa between the British Army and Dutch settlers (available in paperback at B&N and Amazon).

For more on Mandela's legacy--including musical tributes and a glimpse at how front pages around the world are memorializing this great man--see the New York Times' coverage.