Mia Farrow was clearly the star of the evening. She still exudes that waif-like loveliness in person that captured us all in TV's "Peyton Place" and then all the films and appearances thereafter. But that night she was an advocate.

She is no bigger than a minute. She assured Nina and me that she is 5 feet 4 inches tall, but she is so slim it is hard to believe.

The first thing out of her mouth was, "How is Gail?" My kid sister Gail went to school with her in California. They are exactly the same age and Mia was anxious to catch up on her schoolmate's life and times.

It was Wednesday in New York City. We were at the Museum of Television and Radio on 52nd Street and our purpose for being there was the continuing crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan in Africa. They held a seminar called "The Voices of Darfur" and all of us on the stage had been to Sudan. It was hoped that each of us could illuminate an aspect of that ongoing genocide.

In spite of heavy thunderstorms, a large crowd was on hand. The museum has moved and had a major upgrade in facilities since last I visited. In fact the "green room" where the panelists gathered had all the aspects - and much of the paraphernalia - of the office of the legendary CBS founder William S. Paley, including his desk, his conference table, many paintings and much else. I must say I was surprised not to feel the presence of any broadcasting ghosts, but then, we were busy. Perhaps the ghosts were, too.

Others besides Mia with important speaking roles included the moderator, Tara Sonenshine, whose many credits included producing major segments for ABC's "Nightline;" George Papagiannis of "Internews," whose accomplishments include establishing radio stations for Darfuri refugees and displaced persons to connect those isolated victims to one another. Gayle Smith, a long-time Washington insider, brought more experience of Africa to the table than any of us - except one - including a decade in Sudan. Her insights, and her anger at our national inaction, were invaluable.

You'll note that "except one" in the previous paragraph. That honor was reserved for Motasim Adam, himself a Darfuri refugee who told us his own tragic story of troubled Sudan and what he clearly identifies as "racism" at the core of the ongoing genocide.

Another word about the facility. For those of us in broadcasting, it is good to know there is a museum that honors our profession, but, more important, that it is a vibrant, living monument to electronic communication which, in all its forms, continues to revolutionize the way we talk to one another.

Major events crackle and buzz across the museum's schedule. In April, Barbara Walters hosted an event called "Women, the Media and the Middle East." In May, there has already been a serious no-holds-barred discussion on the Arab network Al Jazeera and its efforts to expand its reach in the USA. Just a week ago, Anderson Cooper described his unusual style of reporting and anchoring.

A couple of documentaries-in-progress will get a preview in upcoming weeks, including "Beirut Rising" and Oswald's Ghost," before it is seen on PBS. Queen Noor of Jordan will try "Bridging Two Cultures" in June and there will be a first look at a sitcom called "Little Mosque on the Prairie." Who could resist that? I'd like to see them all.

So the museum is doing what it should. It is providing a forum for the disparate tendrils of electrons that have changed the world in the last 100 years, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. Broadcasting may not be art, but it is a craft, and a craft is not a bad thing.

It was good to be a craftsman taking up a little space and time in that hall of broadcasting. It is going to take every bit of energy and enterprise and innovation and courage our craft can provide to stop the genocide in Darfur.

Nick Clooney writes for The Post every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mails sent to Nick at nickclooney@cincypost.com will be forwarded to him via regular mail.