Can television or visual media capture the essence of compassion and mercy that are so central to the tenets of Buddhism?

Does the Dalai Lama manage his presence in the media or is he simply a “simple Buddhist monk and reincarnation of a bodhisattva?

See Robert A. F. Thurman, Professor, Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies, Columbia University, and President, Tibet House US, answer these questions in a discussion on Religion, Media and Culture: The Dalai Lama held May 5, 2009 at the Paley Center on Media with Laurie Goodstein, National Religion Correspondent, The New York Times and Steven Waldman, President and Editor-in-Chief, Beliefnet, moderated by Ibrahim Abdil-Mu’id Ramey, Director of Human Rights Division, Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation. This program is presented in conjunction with the The Temple of Understanding, a New York–based organization dedicated to promoting cross cultural and inter-religious tolerance and understanding.