Wednesday, April 29, 6:00 p.m. Boston Athenæum, 10½ Beacon Street The media these days speak in so many forked and foreign tongues — film, book, video game, broadcast, blog — that without a dictionary or a concordance it’s hard to know who is saying what to whom. Over the last fifty years it has come to… Continue reading Mixed Media: A Lecture with Lewis Lapham on April 29th
A panel discussion 6:00pm Monday, April 6th, 2009 at C. Walsh Theatre Broadcast Journalists have been praised for breaking important news stories and criticized for breaking political candidates. Is the role of television news in our democracy to present politically neutral information or to provide informed opinion? Charles Kravitz, President of NECN, has had a distinguished career as… Continue reading The Role of Television Journalism in a Democratic Society, Panel on April 6th
Thursday, April 2nd, 6:00 p.m. Suffolk University, C. Walsh Theatre, 55 Temple Street Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property analyzes Nat Turner’s slave rebellion of 1831 and its aftermath in American memory. The film explores the many interpretations of the event, including William Styron’s controversial 1967 Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Confessions of Nat Turner and… Continue reading Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property (2003), Film Screening & Panel Discussion, on April 2nd
A lecture by Josh Silver, Free Press: 6:00pm, Tuesday, March 31, 2009 @ The Boston Athenæum, 10 1/2 Beacon Street Josh Silver argues that the media policies made in Washington, D.C. are the cause of corporate programming on radio and TV, fake news that fails to inform, slow, overpriced Internet service, and struggling public media. His organization, Free… Continue reading Take Back the Media: Policy, Protest, and Protecting American Democracy, March 31st
6:00pm Wednesday, March 25, 2009 @ The Boston Athenæum, 10 1/2 Beacon Street For more than two centuries, America’s newspapers have been the public’s primary source of information about our government. As circulation and staffs shrink, there are significant implications for democracy, which is dependent upon an informed public. Bruce D. Butterfield is an assistant professor and… Continue reading The Shrinking World of Print Journalism: A Danger to Democracy? March 25th
Saturday, March 14th, 12:00 noon Boston Athenæum, 10½ Beacon Street This six-time Oscar-nominated 2005 docudrama chronicles how, in the mid-1950s, Edward R. Murrow and his “See It Now” producer, Fred Friendly, helped to bring an end to the tyranny of the blacklist and the House Un-American Activities Committee’s anti-Communist hearings. The film will be introduced… Continue reading Good Night & Good Luck (2005) Film Screening, March 14th
Saturday, February 28th, 12:00 noon Boston Athenæum, 10½ Beacon Street Director Michael Ritchie and executive producer/star Robert Redford explore the machinations and manipulations of media-age political campaigns in this cynical political drama. With an Oscar-winning screenplay and appearances by real-life reporters and politicians, The Candidate takes a biting look at the nature of politics. The… Continue reading The Candidate (1972) Film Screening, Feb 28th
Panel Discussion Thursday, February 26th, 6:00 p.m.Boston Athenæum, 10½ Beacon Street Does the Internet help make citizens more engaged in the democratic process? How do online social presence, community formation, and party identification on social media sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, and Digg affect the political process? Have online media sites like The Huffington… Continue reading New Media, Democracy & Technology Panel Discussion, Feb 26th
Listen to David Reeder’s Introduction to Citizen Kane: David Reeder’s introduction to Citizen Kane Listen to Post-film Question and Answer Section: Citizen Kane: Post-film Questions and Answers
Wednesday, February 18, 6:00 p.m. Suffolk University, Donahue 311 at 41 Temple Street, Third Floor Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers is based on the Algerian struggle for independence from French colonial rule. In particular it follows one fighter, Ali La Pointe, of the National Liberation Front (FLN) who turns from being a criminal to… Continue reading The Battle of Algiers (1966) Film Screening, Feb 18th