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Barnard College Presents Women 2000 Media Panel-a Discussion with Eleanor Clift, Jane Friedman, Beth Mendelson, and Nancy Evans

New York, N.Y., September 1, 2000 - Barnard College will present a panel discussion, "Charting the New Landscape of Media: Convergence and Content," the second event in the series, Women 2000 - Prominent Women in Business, Politics and Culture. The panel will be held at 6 p.m., Monday, October 2 at Barnard's McIntosh Center, with media professionals Eleanor Clift, Nancy Evans, Jane Friedman, and Beth Mendelson. James Carey, Columbia University's CBS Professor of International Journalism will moderate the panel's discussion and the question and answer period.

The merging of media, computing, and telecommunications-often called convergence-has begun to remake the traditional landscape and scope of media. Today, communications industries that were formerly considered distinct are merging their products and distribution networks. This trend will change how we will be entertained, informed, and connected in the future. Clift, Evans, Friedman, and Mendelson will examine the effects of this shift on media content and on society-illuminating what has been, what is, and what might be.

Eleanor Clift has been a contributing editor at Newsweek since 1994, bringing her experience and insight into politics, personalities, and power. Clift is a regular guest on The McLaughlin Group and appears on many national television shows, including CNN's Crossfire, Inside Politics, CNN & Co., and ABC News Nightline. Playing herself, Clift has appeared in several films, including Independence Day, Rising Sun, Murder at 1600 Pennsylvania, and Dave. With her husband, columnist Tom Brazaitis, Clift has just written a book entitled Madam President: Shattering the Last Glass Ceiling, which forecasts the prospects for women in the presidency.

Nancy Evans is Co-founder and Co-Chairman of iVillage.com, the largest internet site for women. As Editor-in-Chief, Evans oversees the network's 18 sites, including Parent, the leading parenting site online, which she created in 1995. With over 30 years experience, Evans has worked in magazines as both writer (for Ms., Family Circle, The New York Times Book Review) and editor (Harpers, Glamour) and as the creator of Family Life, the first magazine to draw upon parents as the best source of parenting information. She has also worked in books, as both a writer How to Get Happily Published and Goodbye House, and publisher (President and Publisher of Doubleday, Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of the Book of the Month Club). Evans co-hosted First Edition, a book and author show, which aired on PBS. Evans is on the boards of both New York Women in Communications and the Creative Coalition and frequently speaks on entrepreneurship and marketing to women.

Jane Friedman is the President and CEO of HarperCollins where she oversees the company's worldwide book publishing operations. Under her leadership, the company has seen dramatic success. Last year, HarperCollins had 57 titles on The New York Times bestseller list-with 14 on the list in one week. Friedman came to HarperCollins from Random House, where she was Executive Vice President of the Knopf Publishing Group, publisher of Vintage Books, and founder and president of Random House Audio Publishing. She has worked with many best-selling authors, including Toni Morrison, Anne Rice, and Michael Crichton.

An award-winning producer with 20 years' experience, Beth Mendelson launched The Mitchell Report this year with political reporter Andrea Mitchell. Additionally, Mendelson produced John McLaughlin's Special Report, a news program about President Clinton's impeachment. Her wide-ranging credits include PBS's coverage of the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing and a documentary about NATO produced for the Romanian government. She was the co-creator of To The Contrary, a women's analysis program on PBS and has worked for President Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton.

James Carey is a member of the board of directors for PBS and has served as president of the Association for Education in Journalism and of the American Association of Schools and Departments of Journalism. He has published over 100 essays and is the author of three books.

Women 2000 - Prominent Women in Business, Politics and Culture is a lecture series that provides a unique platform for women leaders to share their knowledge and experience with the New York City business, political and cultural communities and with the students of Barnard College and Columbia University who will assume leadership roles in the future. The series honors the achievements of women throughout the world by bringing to the Barnard campus a select group of distinguished women who have made a significant difference in their fields.

Throughout the year and into the next, other forums will explore issues in global business, politics and culture with women whose work is setting the agenda in their respective fields. Planned events for 2000-01 include an e-commerce panel with leading women in e-business, a political panel, and individual speakers in the arts and politics.

Barnard College, a pioneer in women's higher education and the most sought after women's college in the country, was the first college in New York City to offer a liberal arts degree to women. Barnard alumnae include anthropologist Margaret Mead, writers Zora Neale Hurston, Anna Quindlen, and Erica Jong, entrepreneur Martha Stewart, and Chief Judge of the State of New York, Judith Kaye.

What: Women 2000 Media Panel, "Charting the New Landscape of Media: Convergence and Content"
Where: Barnard College's McIntosh Center (Broadway & 117th Street)
When: Monday, October 2, 2000, at 6 p.m.

Following the discussion, Eleanor Clift will sign copies of her new book "Madam President: Shattering the Last Glass Ceiling" at a book-signing sponsored by Labyrinth Books.

Contact: Petra Tuomi, Associate Director of Public Affairs, (212) 854-7907