The author, filmmaker and media reform activist Danny Schechter
has died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 72. Danny Schechter rose to
prominence as the "The News Dissector" on Boston’s WBCN
radio in the 1970s. He went on to work as a television producer at
ABC’s 20/20, where he won two Emmy Awards, and at the newly launched CNN.
But he left corporate media to lead MediaChannel.org and Globalvision.
Schechter wrote 12 books, including "The More You Watch, the Less You
Know," and was a leading activist and journalist against apartheid in
South Africa, making six nonfiction films about Nelson Mandela. He was a
frequent guest on Democracy Now! over the years. The last time he was
on the program, he discussed the life and legacy of Nelson Mandela.
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We wrap up today’s broadcast with a remembrance.JUAN GONZĂLEZ: Well, we end the show remembering the author, filmmaker and media reform activist Danny Schechter, who has died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 72. Danny rose to prominence as "The News Dissector" on Boston’s WBCN radio in the 1970s. He went on to work as a television producer at ABC’s 20/20, where he won two Emmy Awards, and at the newly launched CNN. But he left corporate media to lead MediaChannel.org and Globalvision.
AMY GOODMAN: Danny Schechter wrote 12 books, including The More You Watch, the Less You Know, and was a leading activist and journalist against apartheid in South Africa, making six nonfiction films about Nelson Mandela. Danny was a frequent guest on Democracy Now! Juan and I spoke to him in 2013 after the passing of Nelson Mandela.
DANNY SCHECHTER: Well, you know, I had the fortune of being at the London School of Economics in the '60s, at the right place at the right time, where the ANC people had come into exile. And in my class was remarkable woman, Ruth First, who became sort of my mentor about South Africa. And I was recruited by the ANC to go into South Africa. They couldn't get their people in because so many of them were in prison and well known to the security police. So, people from England, what were then called the "London recruits," were sent into South Africa on various missions. I was one of them—naive, perhaps, to do this, unaware, really, of the consequences that awaited me if I was—if I was caught. But I went anyway as an act of solidarity.
