Hartman to headline chambers 107th annual banquet
Published 5:10 pm Sunday, January 17, 2010
By By GREG KATSKI
Community Edito
The Washington-Beaufort County Chamber of Commerces 107th-annual banquet, featuring guest speaker David Hartman, will serve as a centennial celebration of sorts for the Washington Daily News.
Hartman, 74, one of the original co-hosts of ABCs Good Morning America, said his speech will focus on the work of community newspapers like the Daily News.
The banquet, to be held at 6 p.m. Jan. 28 at the Washington Civic Center, also will feature a video montage honoring the Daily News Pulitzer Prize-winning series of stories published in 1989. The newspaper is sponsoring Hartmans appearance at the banquet.
The (Daily News) is a great newspaper, said Hartman, who lives in Durham. It reflects what great small town newspapers over the country do for their communities.
Hartman said he will touch on the effects of technology on the print media and what the future may hold for community daily newspapers.
(Technology) has had a significant impact on the print medias ability to do its job. Its made it much more difficult (for newspapers) to do their job in an objective way, he said, noting the rise of online bloggers.
Hartman said he questions whether online media outlets can act as community watchdogs much the way small-town dailies do.
If newspapers go away, will the electronic (media) be able to pick up and do a good job of keeping an eye on the community? he said.
Hartman was the host of Good Morning America when it made its debut Nov. 3, 1975. He was with the show for more than 11 years, conducting over 12,000 interviews during that time. With Hartman as host, the show became the No. 1 early morning news-and-information program.
Hartman currently writes and hosts a series of documentary programs about New York City for public television. He also hosts a dozen concerts, yearly, of the North Carolina Symphony orchestra on public radio, and he has substituted for Paul Harvey on ABC radio.
Hartman has earned two National News and Documentary Emmy Awards, an Aviation and Space Writers Association Journalism Award, the Edgar Dale Award for Writing and a Silver Apple from National Education Media Network, among other awards, for his journalistic work over the years.
Hartman graduated from Duke University with a bachelor-of-arts degree in economics. He served three years as an officer in the Air Force.
Hartman spent most of his professional career in New York City before moving to Durham six years ago.
Its an honor, truly, that (Daily News Publisher) Brownie (Futrell) and the chamber invited me to come down and celebrate the anniversary, he said. Im certainly in support of the print media; not only the Washington paper, but all papers.
Tickets for the banquet are $40 per person for chamber members, while sales to the public begin Monday at the cost of $50 per person. To obtain tickets, call the chamber office at 252-946-9168.