Top TV Agents Put Their Money Where There Mouth Is
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Super Agents Richard Leibner and Carole Cooper of UTA show that when it comes to Journalism, they are giving back.
The Leibner Cooper Family Foundation have given a generous gift to the Center For Communication, International Radio and Television Society Foundation (IRTS), and Library of American Broadcasting Foundation (LABF).
“For more than four decades we have been so proud to play a role in such an important industry,” said Richard Leibner. “We so much wanted to give back to an industry that has given so much to Carole and me.”
In gratitude, each organization has proudly announced annual legacy applications of this gift:
The Center for Communication will annually award the Carole Cooper and Richard Leibner Journalism Fellowship to a New York area college junior, senior, or graduate student. The Fellow will receive a generous monthly stipend, intern at the Center for Communication during the course of the school year, and participate in special opportunities that provide engagement with other media organizations. This year’s Fellow will be announced at the Center’s Frank Stanton Award Luncheon on November 2.
The IRTS Foundation has named one of its prestigious nine-week, all-expense paid Summer Fellowships in honor of the family. Selected through a national college competition open to multicultural students studying journalism, the IRTS Leibner Cooper Summer Fellow receives travel, housing, a paid internship in journalism, and a one-week orientation to the media industry. The inaugural recipient is Jackson Kurtz of the University of Kansas.
The LABF in partnership with the Broadcast Education Association (BEA) will annually award The Leibner Cooper Grant for Creative Productions on the History of Media . The grant will provide support to a faculty member who is producing a documentary, news story, multimedia project or sports production focused on historical issues, figures and/or events related to media. Grant recipients will be annually recognized during BEA’s Annual Convention in Las Vegas.
“We are so pleased that Carole and Richard have honored us with this generous gift,” said J. Max Robins, executive director of the Center for Communication. “This is right in step with our shared commitment to promoting diversity in our industry.” “We applaud the Leibner Cooper family’s dedication to educating the next generation. It is a great privilege for each organization to play a role in their special legacy,” said Joyce Tudryn, IRTS President/CEO and LABF Board Director.
Cooper and Leibner have nurtured and advanced the careers of many of the leading journalists of our time and whose firm N.S. Bienstock has been synonymous with quality journalism for more than 50 years. Leibner and Cooper are co-presidents of Bienstock, a talent agency serving many of the biggest television news personalities, including Anderson Cooper, Megyn Kelly, Steve Kroft, David Muir, Norah O’Donnell, Robin Roberts, Bill Whitaker, and many more.
Bienstock was acquired by United Talent Agency in 2014, but remains under the management of Leibner and Cooper.
