[Air-l] Re: peace

[Suzie Allard]

This is in answer to Steve's question if anyone had a similar experience
with undergrads seeming disconnected from the war.   I had a very different
experience with my senior level mass comm & social issues course last night.
I'm in basketball crazed Kentucky so I began the class by asking what they
thought of CBS cutting into basketball coverage to report on the war.  It
was my plan to discuss war coverage in general based on a lecture that
highlights how coverage has changed over the years, however I was surprised
that students quickly moved in this direction on their own so I was able to
work the points into conversation rather than using the lecture.

While a couple students did seem to prefer to remain silent, nearly
three-quarters of the class participated. This is a rather diverse class in
terms of life experience and political views, although not diverse in ethnic
backgrounds.  Several students do have family members overseas.

I did set a ground rule that we would not debate whether the military action
was "right," but we would instead concentrate on the nature of the media
coverage such as whether it was creating realities or reporting facts, how
U.S. media reports differed from reports in other nations, and on items such
as "media management" by the military. The pros/cons of embedded reporters
and the steady feed of nearly synchronous reporting were the hottest topics.

It was interesting to learn how students assessed the value and personal
impact of coverage on the internet versus on television.  Several noted that
television coverage was  more like "entertainment" similar to reality shows
(a topic we've discussed before) but when they went online it was to get the
facts.  No one had used the internet to look at coverage based in another
nation; basically they all went to a familiar news agency such as CNN.
However, they were all interested in exploring these differences during
class. 

I really had the feeling that these particular students were relieved to
have the opportunity to talk about the war even though many limited
themselves to only small "bites" of news each day.  I wonder if part of the
reason for engagement is  because these students are about to step into the
world of professional communication versus being introductory level
students. Or perhaps it is because the class does have a wide range of
students in terms of age and life experience.  Whatever the reason, it was
refreshing to see them demonstrate so much critical thinking and interest in
a sobering topic.

Suzie


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Suzie Allard, Presidential Fellow
University of Kentucky   (859)257-3771
College of Communications and Information Studies
520 King Library South, Lexington, KY  40506-0039
e-mail: slalla0 at uky.edu
homepage: http://sweb.uky.edu/~slalla0/
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