The Shorenstein Center

Team

Rick Kaplan

Visiting Lombard Lecturer

Term

Rick Kaplan is currently executive producer of “The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.” He was the Visiting Lecturer in the Lombard Chair during the spring 2001 semester at the Shorenstein Center. He has been a broadcast journalist for more than 30 years. As president of CNN-US (1997–2000), he was responsible for all news and programming at the CNN News Group. Kaplan galvanized CNN’s ability to provide extensive and up-to-the-minute live coverage and analysis of both breaking and on-going news events, such as the 100 hours of live, global “Millennium 2000” coverage, and several series, including “Investigating the President,” “Showdown with Iraq, Ground Zero,” and “Investigating the President: Media Madness?” Kaplan joined ABC News in 1979 as a senior producer for World News Tonight; from 1979 to 1997, he was executive producer for a variety of ABC News and ABC television network programs, including Good Morning America news, Nightline (1984–89), Primetime Live (1989–94), World News Tonight, (1994), and, finally, ABC-TV Special Projects. Prior to joining ABC, Kaplan was a producer for The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite. He is the recipient of many awards, including 34 Emmy awards, three Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University awards, Overseas Press Club awards and two George Polk awards. Kaplan will be teaching a module on “Do American Media Meet the Needs of a Modern Democracy?”

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