Photo courtesy of External Affairs
P.J. O’Rourke spoke Monday evening on humor in journalism.
Responding to the rapidly changing face of media and the Internet’s role in providing a powerful new information outlet, Hillsdale College offered a means to understand this phenomenon in this week’s Center for Constructive Alternatives seminar, “The News Media Today.”
“[Because] of the election last year [and] especially with the blogger [of today], it seemed like an appropriate topic,” said Tim Caspar, who organizes CCAs and recruits speakers. “I hope it contributes to the wider debate considering the proper role of the news media or journalism in America today.”
The CCA’s kick-off was animated.
The first lecture by Washington Times reporter and Fox News correspondent Bill Sammon described the new “opposition media.” This lecture was selected to set the tone of the CCA, Caspar said.
“[The mainstream media] doesn’t enjoy a monopoly anymore and that is healthy,” Sammon said. “It’s healthy journalism.”
Freshman Craig Kreinbihl said he found this lecture stimulating.
“I thoroughly enjoyed it,” Kreinbihl said. “[Sammon] had a lot of good points that I never gave adequate time thinking about before. It makes me interested about attending the next sessions.”
About 200 students registered to take the CCA for credit, but many patrons and students, such as junior Hans Zeiger, come to the lectures simply because of their enthusiasm for the subject.
“The media, like higher education, affects the way that we think,” Zeiger said. “By becoming involved in this new frontier in media, so much of which occurs online, we can change the way America thinks.”
The CCA featured notable speakers such as New York Times columnist David Brooks, radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt and humorist P.J. O’Rourke. The goal was to get a representative sample of the whole media today, Caspar said.
However, being sceduled to lecture for a CCA doesn’t guarantee a speaker’s appearnce. For the first time in five years, weather problems and flight delays prevented Nat Hentoff of the New York-based newspaper The Village Voice from lecturing at the afternoon session Tuesday.
“The last time it happened where speakers couldn’t come out was 9-11,” Caspar said. “So I guess one every five years isn’t too bad.”
Caspar says the lectures are arranged in a definite order meant to develop the topic throughout the week.
In general, CCAs are chosen for a certain theme. Then the individual topics are chosen and the college begins to recruit speakers by asking them to speak on a particular issue.
Sometimes scheduling conflicts or a polite decline to lecture limits who can speak on a topic, but usually speakers will come if their schedules are free, Caspar said.
Often these speakers come with a great respect for the quality of learning on campus.
“I’ve admired Hillsdale for a number of years,” Sammon said. “So many colleges are worried about some sort of pre-professionalism, but Hillsdale teaches you how to think.”
The CCA will finish with the faculty roundtable at 4 p.m. today.