FRIENDLY BACKS A TV FORUM

COLUMBIA, Mo. — The commercial television networks should underwrite the costs of a weekly televised forum where victims of news media unfairness could confront their attackers, a former CBS news president says.

Fred W. Friendly, former CBS executive and university professor, said such a forum would enable “the various victims of newspaper or television unfairness . . . to confront their attackers and create an opportunity for each side to rebut the other.”

Friendly, one of five journalists and a publication honored with the Missouri Medal for Distinguished Service to Journalism sponsored by the University of Missouri-Columbia, was the keynote speaker at a presentation banquet this week.

Friendly told the audience of 450 professionals and students that it is time for the news media to give the public a chance to talk back.