Jeff Greenfield to Deliver Inaugural Fryer Lecture

Award-winning journalist Jeff Greenfield will deliver the Inaugural Gary Fryer Memorial Lecture Wednesday, February 4 at 4:30 p.m. in the Levinson Auditorium of Yale Law School, 127 Wall Street.

Principally know for his reporting and commentary on politics and the media, Greenfield will discuss “The Media at the Millennium: How Did We Get Here?” The lecture is free and open to the public, and there will be a reception following the lecture in the faculty lounge of the Law School.

Greenfield recently joined CNN as a correspondent, political analyst and anchor. From 1983 through 1997 he was Political and Media Analyst for ABC News, appearing primarily on “Nightline” and delivering weekly commentaries on World News Sunday. Since 1988 he has served as a network floor reporter for national political conventions, as an analyst on presidential debates and as an election night commentator.

Greenfield was media commentator for CBS News from 1979-83, and has frequently appeared on William F. Buckley’s “Firing Line” program. He has won three Emmy Awards for his television work, including two for his reportage on South Africa, and the Washington Journalism Review named him “the best in the business” for his media analysis.

Greenfield is also a contributing columnist for Time Magazine, and has written for the New York Times Magazine and other publications. His novel, “The People’s Choice,” was a national bestseller and was named one of the notable books of 1995 by the New York Times Book Review. The author or co-author of nine other books, he is at work on a second novel described as a satirical portrait of big media.

A native of New York City, Greenfield received his undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin, and earned his law degree with honors from Yale Law School, where he served as a Note and Comment editor of the Yale Law Journal.

Gary G. Fryer served as Yale’s Director of Public Affairs and Special Assistant to the President from 1994 until his death in 1997 at age 45. He overhauled and directed the University’s efforts to communicate its achievements and goals to Yale’s constituencies and to the public at large, and advised the President and other University Officers on a host of issues. Prior to joining Yale, Fryer spent eight years as a top appointee in the administration of New York Governor Mario M. Cuomo. As Counselor and Press Secretary to the Governor, he oversaw the communications efforts of the administration and the agencies of the state government. He also served as one of the Governor’s key advisors on diverse public policy issues.

Fryer, who began his professional career as a newspaper journalist, also served as the communications director for the largest and oldest union representing New York State employees, and was a member of the Board of Trustees of the State University of New York.

The Fryer Lecture, sponsored by the Poynter Fellowship in Journalism at Yale, was established by the Officers of the University in January 1997. In announcing the Fryer Lecture, President Richard C. Levin said, “We would hope and expect the Fryer Lectures to focus on the ethical responsibilities of those engaged in government, higher education and communications – to continue the conversation that Gary always encouraged among his friends and colleagues about how to be honorable, ethical, and effective in all the various modes of public service.”