Women's Media Center Announces Pat Mitchell To Be First Recipient Of Lifetime Achievement Award

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                  

Jane Fonda, The Women’s Media Center Co-Founder & Two-Time Academy Award® Winner, to present award to Pat Mitchell

Photo by Firooz Zahedi

New York, New York, August 21, 2012 - The Women’s Media Center announced this morning that The 2012 Women’s Media Awards will honor Multiple Emmy® & Peabody Award Winner Pat Mitchell, President & CEO of The Paley Center for Media & Founding Co-Chair of The Women's Media Center, with The Women’s Media Center’s first annual Lifetime Achievement Award.

Two-time Academy® Award-winning actress/humanitarian/activist & The Women’s Media Center co-founder Jane Fonda will present the Award to Pat Mitchell at The 2012 Women’s Media Awards on Tuesday, November 13, 2012 at Guastavino’s in New York City.  Going forward, this award will be given annually as the Pat Mitchell Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Women’s Media Awards recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to advancing women’s and girls’ visibility and power in media.

"This recognition is especially meaningful to me, given The Women's Media Center's advocacy for more equitable and accurate representation of women in media,"  says Pat Mitchell, "and I am especially honored to know that future generations of women will also be recognized for their work to advance women and girls through the power of media."

“We are deeply proud to honor Pat Mitchell with the first annual Women’s Media Center Lifetime Achievement Award—and to establish that Award permanently in her name,” says Robin Morgan, Co-Founder of The Women’s Media Center. “A media virtuoso, Pat harmonizes great skills, talent, wit, wisdom, energy, standards of excellence, and principled insistence that women's voices be heard. Her achievements awe, but she makes the impossible look easy. The newly minted Women’s Media Center Pat Mitchell Lifetime Achievement Award thus also expresses our faith in all she will yet accomplish."

"I am beyond honored to be presenting the first annual Women’s Media Center Lifetime Achievement Award to Pat Mitchell. She has been the connector, the spark plug, and the strategist behind more important women's events and forums than seems possible for one tiny woman," observes Jane Fonda, Co-Founder of The Women’s Media Center.

“Pat is that most rare of leaders, one who is trusted by the decision makers as they now exist, and also by the future decision makers hoping to expand what exists," said Gloria Steinem, Co-Founder of The Women’s Media Center.  "Because she herself has been inside every kind of media, her expertise and ideas are trusted. Because of her own character and kindness, her judgment is trusted. She creates bridges between excellence and new ideas, between what is and what could be. There is no force on earth more powerful than trust -- and Pat personifies it," says Gloria Steinem.

About Pat Mitchell:

Pat Mitchell's diverse background in media includes work as a journalist and producer and executive. She has worked in front of the camera and behind, anchoring the news and reporting for broadcast networks, producing award-winning documentaries as President of CNN Productions, becoming the first woman President and CEO of PBS, and currently is the President and CEO of The Paley Center for Media whose mission is to convene media professionals and media consumers for programs that explore the role of media in society. 

Throughout her career, Mitchell has engaged the power of media and storytelling as an agent of social change and specifically, to highlight the stories of women and girls.  She was the first woman to launch, produce and host her own nationally syndicated program “Woman to Woman,” and continues to be active in breaking new ground for women across the media landscape, including a current series of initiatives and programs called Women@Paley which includes producing an annual TEDxWomen conference in partnership with the TED organization, and the Paley Center's television series, At the Paley Center, which begins its third season on PBS stations this fall. Her many awards, include multiple Emmy Awards, five Peabodys and two Academy Award nominations. Mitchell is also a sought after speaker and mentor.  She was recently featured in Fast Company’s 2012 Special Report, The League of Extraordinary Women and named by Huffington Post one of the Most Powerful Women Over 50.  Pat was also recently named one of the 21 Leaders For The 21st Century by Women’s eNews and Newsweek's 150 Women Who Shake the World.

She has received the Sandra Day O’Connor Award for Leadership, the Women in Cable and Telecommunications Woman of the Year Award, and was inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame. Ms. Mitchell serves on the boards of VDAY, a movement to end violence against women and girls, is Vice Chair of the Sundance Institute, a Trustee of the Mayo Foundation, a board member of Global Green USA and Acumen Fund and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Women’s Forum Inc. and the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Mitchell also sits on the corporate board of AOL.

The 2012 Women’s Media Awards are co-chaired by Loreen Arbus, Donna Deitch, Jodie Evans, Jane Fonda, Carol Jenkins, Robin Morgan & Gloria Steinem.

About the Women’s Media Center:

The Women's Media Center works to make women and girls visible and powerful in the media through strategic programs aimed at transforming the media landscape including media training, media monitoring and activism, original media content, media reports, media programs & initiatives.

The Women’s Media Center was founded in 2005 by Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan, and Gloria Steinem.

“The Women’s Media Center exists to change the status of women in media.  Because 51 percent of our population is women and only 3% of all clout positions in media are held by women, the Women’s Media Center Awards were created to honor champions for women who use their media platforms to tell the stories, facts, and solutions crucial to all viewers and to advance opportunities for women in media,” says Julie Burton, President of the Women’s Media Center. “Because media tells our stories and influences the role of women in every part of society, we are proud to honor these amazing women who set the standard for what media should look like when it gives voice to the female half of the country.” 

To buy tickets or for more information about The 2012 Women’s Media Awards and the ongoing work of The Women’s Media Center, go to:
http://www.womensmediacenter.com/

For press information on the Women’s Media Center or to cover The Women’s Media Awards please contact Carolyn Gitomer at JGPR: Carolyn@jamesgrantpr.com or (917) 626-1300.


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