This weblog is, in part, an attempt to build a Medichannel online community, an extended family of concerned people. I am sad to report that one of our members is gone.

The death this past weekend of television producer Judith Moses, a former colleague of mine at ABC News who later became a friend hit me hard. Maybe its was because I didn’t know she had been sick, didn’t know she had even passed until another ex-colleague sent out an e-mail. Perhaps the proximity of my own birthday, always a time of personal transition, made the news hit harder because it was just a another reminder of how fragile and short life can be. We all know that, of course, but most of us don’t think about it too much. Death is scary, with the kind of permanence that we media people with our “make it happen, on to the next story” attitude find it hard to wrap our heads around. It happens. It just happened to her — a person I considered a ‘force of nature.’

Judith was a very skilled journalist, a hard-hitting producer. She often focused like a laser beam on whatever story she was working on. She was so tough and no-nonsense that I found her intimidating when we first met at 20/20. She seemed so super confident and focused at a time when I was just getting started in the network world and was rather insecure about the job and whether or not I belonged there at all. Judith and her husband Harry, who spent years producing at CBS and 60 Minutes, were at the top of their game, successful and, in my mind at least, role models of concerned people who did important stories. Their presence suggested to me that you didn’t have to check your values at the door when you joined a media company.

Along the way, Judith developed a strong interest in human rights journalism.She left the networks. She was an early member of the board of the Committee to Protect Journalists. She ran an Indy production company. She produced documentaries and series and specials. She ran round the world training journalists and caring about what happened to them. She taught. And her students respected her.

I was pleased that she invited me to speak in one of her classes and brought some students to meet us here at Globalvision. She encouraged us on with the Media Channel. She stood up for what she believed in. I admired her — and will miss her gutsiness and determination.

I invited some of the people who knew her better than I to share reminiscences — which I intend to post here on Mediachannel. Just click Repond and post yours if you will.

So far, I have only had a few responses, but they testify to Judith’s power and presence.

One close colleague at ABC, Joe Lovett, who now runs his own production company has promised to send a fuller reminiscence:

“I was shocked at the obit. I had no idea she was ill. She was such a character and so caring about her work and what it meant for others. I know you and I shared a space on her “ok” list (which, as you know, was not open to a lot of people). Her validation was always a nice thing to have.

Sylvia Chase, soon to leave ABC where she has been a brilliant correspondent for so many years, remembers Judith as a remarkable woman.”Intense, yet vulnerable when off duty. We actually got the giggles underthe pressure of the constant and markedly clumsy surveillance at our Baghdadhotel. This drive to Najjaf is clear in my mind.”

Sylvia goes on: “We were streaking across the Iraqi desert, a hefty minder at the wheel and his slender sidekick riding shotgun. No matter how much Judith begged him to slow down, the minder drove as if there were Persians in pursuit. But the road was empty and the blue sky as well. Sometimes groups of women far off on the creamy sand appeared to be stacking terra cotta bricks in a wind so strong, their heavy, black cotton garments waved like flags. Judith’s black shawl lay in folds around her head and shoulders. She was trying to explain to the men why two women were traveling alone wherever their bosses ordered them, not just there and that day, but all the time, every day. Even after several days, the Iraqis could not be convinced that her husband approved. They’d given up asking me questions. I was divorced, what could be done? Judith just couldn’t give up trying to help them understand about women in the United States. She looked at me, raising her eyebrows and smiling just a little. I gave her an encouraging smile and shrugged my shoulders, adjusted my shawl and turned to watch another group of toiling Iraqi women. Judith went right on teaching.”

I will post more comments when and if they come in. For those who knew her, the Memorial Service will be next Monday, June 25th at Noon.Sadly, I will be out of town.

NATIONAL ARTS CLUB
15 GRAMERCY PARK SOUTH
BETWEEN PARK AVENUE SOUTH AND 3RD AVENUE.

Please give my love to Harry and the family.