Campus Community
Posted: Thursday, May 21, 2009Communication Department to Cohost International Conference
“Aftermath and Renewal: Reclaiming the Critical Ideal,” the 2009 Union for Democratic Communications (UDC) international conference at Buffalo State College May 28–31, will include a roster of high-profile communication experts, including Emmy Award–winning producer Danny Schechter.
The UDC is an organization of communication researchers, journalists, media producers, policy analysts, academics, and activists that encourages critical perspectives in communication theory, media production, and the study of popular culture.
The conference, under the direction of Michael Niman, associate professor of journalism, will feature about 40 panel discussions and four plenary addresses, and will focus on successful stories of media activism, praxis, and radical pedagogy.
Schechter, who will address conference attendees at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 29, in Bulger Communication Center North, is an investigative reporter, author, filmmaker, and one of the nation’s most prominent media critics. He is the founder and executive editor of MediaChannel.org, the world’s largest online media issues network.
Schechter joined the staff at CNN as a producer based in Atlanta before moving to ABC to work as a producer for 20/20, where during his eight years he won two national news Emmys. He has reported from 47 countries and lectured at many schools and universities. He was an adjunct professor at the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. His writing has appeared in leading newspapers and magazines including the Nation, Newsday, the Boston Globe, and the Columbia Journalism Review.
Schechter holds a bachelor’s degree in labor history from Cornell University, a master’s in political sociology from the London School of Economics, and a Nieman Fellowship in Journalism from Harvard University. His work has been honored with Emmy awards, the IRIS Award, the George Polk Award, the Major Armstrong Award, and honors from the National Association of Black Journalists. His books include Embedded—Weapons of Mass Deception: How the Media Failed to Cover the War in Iraq; Media Wars: News at a Time of Terror; and The More You Watch the Less You Know. His recent films include Weapons of Mass Deception and In Debt We Trust.
Schechter’s talk is free for members of the Buffalo State community. Buffalo State’s Communication Department is cohosting the conference with Niagara University’s Communication Studies Department. E-mail UDC2009@gmail.com for more information.
