Richard Heffner

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Richard Heffner (b. August 5, 1925) is the creator and host of The Open Mind (talk show), a public affairs television show first broadcast in 1956. Currently University Professor of Communications and Public Policy at Rutgers University, he is the author of A Documentary History of the United States, a verbatim anthology of important public documents in American history, among them the Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address, and Martin Luther King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail. He is also the editor of Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville.

A protegé of Edward R. Murrow, Heffner helped establish what is now called WNET Channel 13 in New York City and was its first general manager, from 1961 to 1963. From 1974 to 1994 Heffner was [1] chairman of the Classification and Rating Administration (CARA) of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). He has also worked for CBS under the late Richard Salant.

Heffner received his BA (1946) and MA (1947) degrees in history from Columbia University.

He currently teaches a seminar at Rutgers University titled Communication and Human Value.

[edit] See also

• MPAA film rating system he was longtime head of the ratings board.