About the writer - Ralph J. Begleiter

A broadcast journalist's view of the world

During two decades as CNN’s “world affairs correspondent,” I 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, I covered U.S. diplomacy, interviewed countless world leaders, hosted the public affairs program “Global View,” and co-anchored CNN’s “International Hour.” Later, I hosted the nationally broadcast PBS program “Great Decisions.” I have 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, I’ve taught journalists in Cambodia, Thailand, Jordan, Syria and Taiwan, and have taught media-related classes for employees of the U.S. National Security Agency.

During 17 years at the University of Delaware, I was founding Director of the Center for Political Communication, and brought my broadcast journalism experience to award-winning instruction in communication, journalism, and political science.

In 2004-5, together with the National Security Archive, I 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.

I moderated the annual Conrad N. Hilton Foundation Humanitarian Prize Symposium in New York, Washington, Geneva and Los Angeles for more than 20 years, and I’ve lectured for a wide array of organizations, including World Affairs Councils, the National Defense University, the Freedom Forum, Britain’s Royal College of Defense Studies, the U.S. military academies and embassy policy groups.

I earned my Honors B.A. in political science at Brown University and my M.S. in journalism at Columbia.