Faith, Fundamentalism and Politics

Former ABC News Bureau Chief Tom Osborne Launches International Lecture Tour:
"Faith, Fundamentalism and Politics in the War on Terrorism." This is a lecture he wrote as a visiting professor at the University of Durham in England this past year and delivered it publicly in the UK. Tom is seeking both domestic (beyond Tennessee) and other international engagements. This is a life-long cause for Tom and he believe now is the time, more than ever, to bring it fruition. To reach Tom Osborne email him at tomosborne48@yahoo.com


Biography

Assigned as reporter/producer and Bureau Chief at the United Nations in 1989 just prior to the Gulf War, Osborne covered the UN for ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT WITH PETER JENNINGS; GOOD MORNING AMERICA; NIGHTINE;20/20, overseeing all editorial coverage for the various primetime news specials and general coverage for ABC News at the UN through 2000.

Elected president of the UN Correspondents Association in 1992. As president of UNCA, inaugurated and chaired the 1992 series of international press conferences: "The UN in the Post Cold War Era." Convened at UN headquarters in New York, the conferences provided a forum for international journalists, members of the UN Security Council, the UN Secretariat to discuss UN Security Council reform and transparency; an issue under intense scrutiny in the wake of UN involvement in conflicts in the Iraq/Gulf war, and the impending crises in the former Yugoslavia.

Prior to his UN assignment Osborne covered NE U.S. for ABC News, New York Bureau.

Before joining ABC in 1987, Osborne served as U.S. Director of the Amsterdam-based ANNE FRANK FOUNDATION, 1984-’85, supervising the U.S. opening and national tour of the international archival photographic exhibition: ANNE FRANK IN THE WORLD: 1929-1945, created by the foundation. Osborne inaugurated the U.S. tour of the exhibition, opening it in 18 U.S. cities. He inaugurated the first annual ANNE FRANK Award for Human Rights in the U.S.

Osborne began his career in 1967 while completing a BA degree at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, reporting and anchoring for the CBS affiliate KELO TV in Sioux Falls.

Taking temporary leave from active journalism in 1971, Osborne served as staff assistant and speech writer for various members of the South Dakota congressional delegation in Washington, D.C. He served in the Washington office of Rep. Frank E. Denholm, D.S.D. as legislative assistant and speech writer.

After receiving his BA degree from Augustana College, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Osborne completed post graduate studies earning a Masters of Divinity studying at Methesco Seminary, Delaware, Ohio. During this course of study he also studied at St. John's College, Durham University in Durham, England where he was accepted as a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of theology in 1978. Attended Catholic University, Wash. D.C. while studying theology with the Paulist Fathers, 1978-'82.

He is currently adjunct professor at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee teaching U.S. Policy in the United Nations and lectures on the topic "Faith, Politics, and Fundamentalism in the War on Terrorism" Awards: 2006 Fellowship Award, St. John’s College, University of Durham, Durham, UK; Executive Producer, film documentary, "In Shifting Sands: The Truth About the Disarming of Iraq"