The Program: “Global Media & International Politics” The revolution in media technology has unleashed a worldwide storm of information about the United States and democracy, shaping global public opinion about the U.S. in new and challenging ways. It has also unleashed information manipulation tools being used by both friends and adversaries of the U.S. Former CNN world affairs correspondent Ralph Begleiter explores the implications of the new media environment for American foreign policy.

Presenter: During two decades as CNN’s “world affairs correspondent,” Ralph Begleiter was the network’s most widely-traveled reporter, covering five U.S. Secretaries of State and three Presidents. During the 1980s and 1990s, when CNN was the world’s only global, all-news television channel, he covered U.S. diplomacy, interviewed countless world leaders, hosted the public affairs program “Global View,” and co-anchored CNN’s “International Hour.” Later, he hosted the nationally broadcast PBS program “Great Decisions.” He has worked in 100 countries on all 7 continents, including taking university students to Cuba, South America, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Antarctica. At the invitation of the U.S. government, Begleiter has taught journalists in Cambodia, Thailand, Jordan, Syria and Taiwan, and has taught media-related classes for employees of the U.S. National Security Agency. During nearly two decades at the University of Delaware, he was founding Director of the Center for Political Communication and brought more than 30 years of broadcast journalism experience to his award-winning instruction in communication, journalism, and political science. In 2004-5, Begleiter successfully used the Freedom of Information Act in the United States to prompt public release of hundreds of photos taken by the U.S. government of fallen American soldiers returning home from Afghanistan and Iraq in flag-draped caskets. The ban on visibility of returning casualties was lifted by the Pentagon in 2009. For this effort, in 2012 Common Cause of Delaware honored Begleiter with its John Gardner Lifetime Achievement Award.

He frequently speaks to civic and community organizations, international affairs groups, universities and military institutions worldwide, including World Affairs Councils, the National Defense University, the Freedom Forum, Britain’s Royal College of Defense Studies, U.S. military academies and embassy policy groups.

He holds an Honors B.A. in political science from Brown University, an M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University, and is a member of the National Honor Society, Phi Beta Kappa.

Sponsored by Sandia National Laboratories
Exceptional Service in the National Interest