Bullen, Dana R. 1931-2007 (Dana R. Bullen, II, Dana Ripley Bullen, Dana Ripley Bullen, II)

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born August 6, 1931, in Boston, MA; died of stomach cancer, June 25, 2007, in Alexandria, VA. Journalist, columnist, editor, and nonprofit director. Bullen honed his craft at the former Washington Star for more than twenty years, first as a Capitol Hill reporter, then as a syndicated columnist and assistant national editor. He headed the paper's foreign desk from 1976 until the newspaper closed its doors in 1981. During these years at the foreign desk, Bullen became increasingly concerned about freedom of the press issues at the international level. In a United Nations effort to create a centralized information and communication office in 1976, he detected a concealed intention by some member countries to control the dissemination of news from within their national borders. Soon afterward Bullen became a volunteer for the World Press Freedom Committee based in Reston, Virginia, and a relentless defender of freedom of the press, both at home and around the world. After the Star folded, Bullen took over leadership of the committee, where he worked on behalf of a wide range of causes, from journalistic freedom in the former Soviet bloc countries to the relationship between the press and the Internet. He edited and published the book The Media Crisis: A Continuing Challenge. Bullen retired as executive director of the nonprofit organization in 1996, but he served in an advisory capacity for nearly the rest of his life. Bullen's credentials included a journalism degree and a law degree from the University of Florida. The syndicated column that he produced in the 1960s was devoted to constitutional law. His work later earned him two Gavel Awards from the American Bar Association, and his work on behalf of international freedom of the press earned Bullen the Chapultepec Grand Prize of the Inter American Press Association.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

New York Times, June 27, 2007, Dennis Hevesi, p. C21.

Washington Post, June 26, 2007, p. B7.