Rick Kaplan
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Rick Kaplan | |
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| Born | Richard N. Kaplan University of Illinois |
| Occupation | television producer |
Richard N. Kaplan is an American network television producer. He has worked for CBS, ABC, CNN and MSNBC. Kaplan has also served as executive producer for some of the biggest names in television news journalism, including Walter Cronkite, Peter Jennings, Ted Koppel, Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric, and Christiane Amanpour.[1]
Kaplan started his broadcast journalism career at CBS's
Early life and education
Richard Kaplan was born in
Broadcast journalism
CBS News (1969–1979)
Kaplan's
ABC News (1979–1997)
Kaplan joined
Prior to joining Nightline, Kaplan was executive producer of World News This Morning and Good Morning America news.
Kaplan was executive producer of
After a stint during the 1980s as executive producer of ABC's Nightline, Kaplan served as executive producer of ABC's Primetime Live from 1989 to 1994. The trademark of Primetime Live became
In 1991 Primetime Live aired an exposé of the Food Lion supermarket chain where undercover reporters posed as employees, falsifying their resumes and staging events. The exposé depicted Food Lion as an unethical seller of outdated and contaminated foods. Food Lion sued, and a jury that saw the 45 hours of video from which Kaplan and ABC distilled a 10-minute hit piece awarded Food Lion $5.5 million in punitive damages for fraud committed by Capital Cities-ABC against the company. The award was later reduced by a judge to $316,000. The verdict was then overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia. Even though ABC was wrong to do what it had done, the court felt that Food Lion was unable to show that it had been directly injured by ABC's actions.
While executive producer of ABC's PrimeTime Live, Kaplan in 1992 advised then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton how to deal with the Gennifer Flowers affair issue, recommended that the Clintons appear on the CBS program "60 Minutes," and advised the Clintons on how to handle that interview.[citation needed]
In January 1994, Kaplan became executive producer of
Kaplan served as executive producer of special projects for ABC. In this post, Kaplan created and produced special programming for all of the network's divisions, including news, entertainment and sports.
CNN (1997–2000)
As President of CNN-US, Kaplan was responsible for all news and programming at the flagship network of the CNN News Group. He instituted a new class of instant news specials, revamped the network's programming line-up with a new program schedule and anchor teams, and increased the number of hours of hard news programming during the weekends.
Under Kaplan, CNN/U.S. galvanized its ability to provide worldwide viewership with the most extensive and up-to-the-minute live coverage and analysis of both breaking and on-going news events, as evidenced in the unprecedented 100 hours of live, global Millennium 2000 coverage, the award-winning Investigating the President series of CNN Special Reports, the 1998 off-year election coverage,
In 1998, Kaplan oversaw production of the first documentary for the new show NewsStand. The documentary called "Tailwind," narrated by journalist Peter Arnett, alleged that during the Vietnam War the United States had used sarin gas against women and children in Laos. This report was later discredited, and CNN was vilified by the U.S. Department of Defense and many veteran's groups.
Departure of Dobbs
Kaplan repeatedly clashed with CNN anchor Lou Dobbs and was presumed responsible for his abrupt departure from the network in 1999.[3]
On April 20, 1999, CNN was covering President Clinton's speech in Littleton, Colorado, following the Columbine High School massacre. Dobbs ordered the producer to cut away from the speech and return to broadcast Moneyline.[4] Dobbs was countermanded by Kaplan, who ordered CNN to return to the speech. Kaplan later said, "Tell me what journalistic reason there was not to cover the president at Columbine soon after the shootings? Everyone else was doing it." Dobbs announced on the air that "CNN President Rick Kaplan wants us to return to Littleton." A few days later, Dobbs announced that he was leaving the network to start a website devoted to astronautical news.[4]
After Kaplan moved to CNN, U.S. News & World Report found that Kaplan had ordered CNN reporters to "limit the use of the word 'scandal' in reporting on President Clinton's campaign fundraising." Critics claim this as an example of bias, given Kaplan's longtime friendship with him.
Return to ABC News
Kaplan was senior vice president of
Prior to this, Kaplan was a teaching fellow at the Shorenstein Center of Harvard University's
MSNBC (2004–2006)
Kaplan was named
CBS News (2007–2011)
Kaplan was named executive producer of the
Kaplan was the executive producer responsible for all aspects and production of the 2008 Political Conventions in
ABC News (2011-2012)
In 2011, Kaplan was named executive producer of ABC News'
Kaplan Media Partners (2012)
Kaplan founded KAPLAN MEDIA PARTNERS in August 2012, a company dedicated to producing quality news programming as either a network consultant or contractor and structured to assist private industry as it navigates the new world of social media while meeting the challenges of dealing with mainstream media. KMP also delivers media training, crisis management and works with firms who are looking to increase their influence with groundbreaking conferences and intra-corporate communications.
Kaplan Media Partners' first client was Aaron Sorkin and the HBO program,
College
Kaplan has devoted a great deal of his time to education, teaching a series of special journalism classes every semester since 1993 at the University of Illinois College of Communications in
Awards
Kaplan has received numerous awards for his work, including 44
In January 2001, Kaplan was chosen to be the visiting Lombard Lecturer at the
In September 2001 Kaplan was asked to remain at Harvard for the complete academic year, where he was named a Fellow of the Shorenstein Center. In August 2003 Kaplan was awarded the appointment of adjunct Fellow at the Shorenstein Center where he continues to consult and lecture.
References
- ISBN 978-0-307-35351-1.
- ^ "ABC News President Ben Sherwood Names Rick Kaplan Executive Producer of 'This Week with Christiane Amanpour'". ABC News. May 12, 2011.
- ISBN 978-0-312-60629-9.
- ^ a b Auletta, Ken (December 4, 2006). "Mad as Hell: Lou Dobbs's populist crusade". The New Yorker. Retrieved December 31, 2011.
- ^ Guerrero, Rafael (April 20, 2010). "CBS producer Rick Kaplan speaks on media fracture and the future of young journalists". The Daily Illini.
- ^ "MSNBC Cable replaces president: Former CNN leader Rick Kaplan will head network". MSNBC. February 17, 2004.