Practically every big meeting room on campus was filled for the 2009 Research Symposium this spring, which showcased senior seminar projects, funded-research, honors research and other student research in all the academic departments.
Students in professor Katherine Kirby's course on "Truth and Propaganda" presented philosophical analyses of media, and each presented a video based on one of five or six top popular songs, "Coming to America," "Give a Man a Home," and several others. The videos were team-produced with each four-or-five person team having at least one high-tech wizard in the bunch. The interdisciplinary course linked philosophy, journalism and global studies. Their videos were to carry the message they wanted to tell. At the same time, the students were examining how propaganda works to persuade people, not necessarily to inspire them to think.
The presentations were:
Sarah Coghlan, Navigating Networks: Importance of Using Media for the 'Good'
Karin Krisher, Babysitting the Masses: Who is Responsible for Truth?
Victor Senning, Propaganda's Battle with Revolutionary Media: A Crusade for Truth
Lee Waterhouse, Neutrality, Complicity, and Drowning
The class and each presentation examined the impact of a particular propaganda model, which they created and showed, asking the question, "Is it acceptable to manipulate the truth to get results?" In her impressive, articulate talk on Babysitting the Masses, Karin Krisher explored the question of "giving both sides" and asked if neutrality is possible, concluding that there are "no two sides to truth."
Victor Senning concluded in his analysis of "Propaganda's Battle with Revolutionary Media" that although propaganda has various uses, truth has no bearing on propaganda, because "propaganda is defined by function, not fact" with persuasion, not accuracy being the key element. His talk explored the witch hunts of the McCarthy Era in the Untied States that only ceased when Edward R. Murrow questioned Senator McCarthy on the TV news. He discussed the film "Good Night and Good Luck" which focused on Murrow and the McCarthy era, and Mr. Senning concluded that Murrow's personal voice was key to his effectiveness in uncovering the truth. But the student concluded, media can be a tool of misinformation, and he lamented the trend for the information business today to become entertainment.
Lee Waterhouse presented a knock-out video made up of YouTube clips brilliantly jumping from Malcom X to Bill O'Reilly, from Fox news to Muhammad Ali, from Martin Luther King Jr. to various U.S. Presidents and rock stars, all colliding in video-spaces. His talk and video, Neutrality, Complicity, and Drowning, demonstrated that "society is drowning in propaganda," and warned that "people must learn to discern the truth in media and cannot be indifferent." He faulted the media for relying on 'official statements' and allowing government to move unchecked and unobserved. He said we must be analytical and become active participants, urging social and political change, not merely accepting was presented.