Laurence Ariel Jarvik is a writer, scholar, filmmaker and a conservative critic of public broadcasting. Born in New York, New York, October 30, 1956, he is the author of numerous articles in national publications including Current, Common Sense, Policy Review, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, New York Times, Boston Globe, American Film, and American Cinematographer . His two book-length works are PBS: Behind the Screen (1997) and Masterpiece Theatre and the Politics of Quality (1999).
Jarvik received at BA from the University of California, Berkley in 1977, an MFA from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1988 and completed a PhD at UCLA in 1991. He was the Bradley Resident Scholar at the Heritage Foundation, Washington, DC, from 1991 to 1992 and adjunct scholar from 1992 to 1997. He served as the Washington editor for COMINT from 1992 through 1996, and also directed the Center for the Study of Popular Culture, Washington, DC, during the same period. In 1996 and 1997 Jarvik served as a Cultural Studies fellow and editor of Culture Watch and Foundation Watch for the Capital Research Center, Washington, DC.
Jarvik received the Third Generation Award from the Heritage Foundation in 1994 and was named Journalist of the Day and Author of the Week by the Freedom Forum Newseum, Arlington, VA, in 1997. His documentary film Who Shall Live and Who Shall Die? (KINO, International, 1981) is available at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum Library in Washington, DC. In 1988 he created the work Envy, Jealously, and Revenge, a videowall installation.
From the guide to the Laurence A. Jarvik Papers, 1935-1998, 1990-1998, (Mass Media and Culture)