Friday, April 25, 2008

"We STILL Want Better Media" Conference (podcasts added)

Friday, May 9

7:30 p.m. - Film Screening - A Soldier's Peace (Scripps Hall 111)

Introduction to film, with Bill Reader (JSchool) >> mp3 podcast

Discussion following film with Tanya Paperny (Campus Progress) and Marshall Thompson (film producer/director) >> mp3 podcast

Saturday, May 10

9:30 a.m. - Registration (Scripps Hall 107). NOTE: This is a free conference; registration is optional.

10:00 a.m. - Welcome (Scripps Hall 111)
Thomas Hodson, Director E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, Bob Stewart, Athens Free Press, Chelsea Toy, Student Committee and Campus Progress Advisory Board Member, and Thomas Coen from Campus Progress

10:30 a.m. - Media and Politics (Scripps Hall 111)
- Terry Smith, editor (Athens News)
- Algis Mickunas, retired professor (Philosophy)
- Bernhard Debatin, professor (E.W. Scripps School of Journalism)
- MODERATOR: Sandra Haggerty, professor (E.W. Scripps School of Journalism)

11:45 a.m. - Breakout Sessions
- Blogging - Bob Stewart, professor (E.W. Scripps School of Journalism)
- Media Bootcamp - Tanya Paperny (Campus Progress)

12:45 p.m. - Lunch on your own

1:45 p.m. - "Work in Progress"
- Kelsey McCoy (Rural Action)
- Chelsea Toy (Ohio University)
- Marshall Thompson (Ohio University)
- MODERATOR: Thomas Coen

3:00 p.m. - Refreshment Break

3:30 p.m. - Why Media Reform is Important to Us All - Multi-Issue Panel (Scripps Hall 111).

MODERATOR: Cara Theart (Honors degree in journalism from the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa)

Susanne Dietzel -- Media portrayal of women's issues (mp3). Dr. Dietzel is director of the OU Women’s Center. She earned her Ph.D. in American Studies and Feminist Studies at the University of Minnesota in 1996. Before coming to Ohio, Dr. Dietzel was an Assistant Professor of women's studies at Tulane University and directed the Women's Resource Center at Loyola University in New Orleans. Her research interests include interdisciplinary women’s studies, feminist theory and activism, and the role of women's centers in institutions of higher learning. She is also a co-founder of Katrina Warriors, a feminist network committed to ending violence against women and girls in New Orleans.

Ruhi Khan -- Media effects on muslim youth in India (mp3). Ruhi is a fourth-year Ph.D. student in telecommunications. She grew up in Kuwait, completed her bachelor’s degree in India, and earned her masters at Syracuse University with a concentration in media management and programming. Ruhi spent six years in India working with STAR TV Networks and National Geographic Channels International, and is now completing her dissertation research on how the media impacts the collective identities of Muslim youth in India.

Geoff Buckley -- Media coverage of social and environmental justice in Appalachia (mp3). Buckley is an associate geography professor. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland in 1997 by studying the effects of coal mining on the forests and water of western Maryland. Here at Ohio University, Dr. Buckley teaches a number of relevant courses, including “Appalachia: Land and People.” His research interests include historical geography, environmental justice, and coal mining in Appalachia. He is the author of Extracting Appalachia: Images of the Consolidation Coal Company, 1910-1945 and is currently co-editing a book about environmental justice in Appalachia.


Speaker bios:

Thomas Coen (Associate Publications Manager for Campus Progress) -- Thomas graduated in 2007 from Wesleyan University with a BA in Government and Economics and a Certificate in International Relations. While at Wesleyan, Thomas co-hosted a weekly political talk radio show, was a research assistant focusing on U.S. counterterrorism policy, and co-founded a publication, Incite Magazine, that combines news analysis and political commentary with action and activism. He has interned at People for the American Way and in the United States Senate.

Bernhard Debatin teaches courses in online journalism, media ethics and theoretical/conceptual topics. Since Summer 2005, he has been serving as the Director of Studies in the Journalism HTC program. His research areas include new media and online journalism, media ethics, international media, mass media theory, theory of the public sphere, communication theory, and metaphor theory.

Algis Mickunas is professor emeritus of philosophy at Ohio University and a preeminent American scholar of contemporary European philosophy, Marxism, hermeneutics, semiotics, phenomenology, and existentialism as well as theories of democracy and politics. He has published and/or presented hundreds of scholarly papers and articles at numerous conferences in America, Latin America, Japan, Europe, India, and the Middle East and authored more than a dozen books, including Technocracy vs Democracy. He founded or co-founded several scholarly bodies, including the International Circle of Husserl Scholars, the International Circle of Merleau-Ponty Scholars, The Current State of Marxian Theory, the International Gebser Society, and the Center for the Study of Globalization in Guatemala. Although Professor Mickunas has retired from teaching at Ohio University where he taught for 30 years, receiving several university professor awards and an outstanding graduate faculty award, he maintains an active schedule of lecturing in Europe and the Middle East and continues writing. His latest book is Democracy Today. His most recent honors include being appointed to the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences and named the outstanding foreign contributor to humanities and social sciences in Luthuania.

Tanya Paperny (Outreach and Organizing Associate Manager for Campus Progress) -- Tanya recently graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she studied Women’s Studies and History and was a leader in the Queer Student Union, Women’s Commission, and Solidarity Against War. She tends to think that mainstream media in this country is pretty screwy, so to try to change that, she’s interned at KCSB and WAMU-FM, and written, edited, and designed for UCSB’s DisOrientation Guide, HerStory Feminist Magazine, and The Bottom Line, an alternative student newspaper. She recently completed an internship at Women Work! and a cross-country road trip in an old-school car.

Terry Smith has worked for 27 years in newspapers, including 21 years as editor of The Athens News. He's worked at small and mid-sized papers in Ohio (2), Arizona, Idaho, Colorado and West Virginia, both as an editor and a news reporter. He has been teaching courses (usually news-writing) at the Scripps School of Journalism on a contract/adjunct basis. He's also conducted workshops and seminars, and participated in panels at the annual Scripps High School Journalism Workshop at Ohio University. He has moderated and sat on panels at the Association of Alternative Newsweeklie' annual conference.

Marshall Thompson is completing an MSJ from the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism. He served in Iraq as a military journalist. When he returned from Iraq he and his wife created the organization "A Soldier's Peace," and produced a documentary about his walk across the state of Utah to call for an end to the war.

Chelsea Toy is a sophomore majoring in journalism and specializing in international studies at Ohio University. Born outside of Pittsburgh, PA, she grew up competing in professional rodeos as a barrel racer. She has traveled to Washington, DC, to report on the United for Peace and Justice march in January 2007, as well as to Selma, AL, to report on the 42nd Anniversary of the Selma-Montgomery Voting Rights’ march. Chelsea is also involved in organizing direct action campaigns for CODEPINK: Women for Peace in Athens, OH. Earlier this year, Chelsea interned in Cape Town, South Africa.

co-sponsored by: Athens Free Press & Campus Progress