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Steven Brill11th Annual John S. Knight Lecturer
When Steven Brill announced that he was starting Brill’s Content, there was a great deal of interest and anticipation on the part of journalists. Brill had gained some attention and respect as the founder of The American Lawyer magazine, and then as founder of the Courtroom Television Network, Court TV. The first issue of Brill’s Content, which appeared in August 1998, thrust the magazine on to the front pages and into the public consciousness because of its cover piece, written by Mr. Brill and entitled "Pressgate." It examined the news media’s handling of the Clinton-Lewinsky affair, and it included information from an interview with independent prosecutor Ken Starr in which Starr basically confirmed that his office had leaked information about the case to reporters. That part of the story, Starr’s leaking, probably got the most attention, at least in the press, but the article also contained a devastating critique of media coverage of the whole Clinton-Lewinsky saga. So that piece and its findings were controversial and stirred debate within journalism and outside – familiar territory for Steven Brill. Steven Brill has undergraduate and law degrees from Yale University. He wrote for New York and Esquire magazines, and wrote a book, "The Teamsters," before founding The American Lawyer. Brill went on to own nine regional legal publications around the country in addition to American Lawyer. He founded Court TV, which went on the air in 1991 and drew immediate attention with its coverage of the William Kennedy Smith rape trial. Time-Warner acquired those enterprises, and he proceeded to found a new company, Brill Media Ventures, the parent of Brill’s Content. |
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