1. Hello, my name is Phillip Gara. I am a sophomore intending to concentrate in Modern European History and Art-Semiotics although I have yet to officially declare for either. I desperately need to get into Global Media, particularly at this moment in my Brown career, because I want to add new dimensions to my journalistic work while I still have the resources available to work independently. In the past, I have worked extensively with traditional journalism as staff writer for campus publications [BDH and The Triple Helix], a freelance journalist in New York, an editor of my High School Newspaper and an intern at the NYC Press Office of the Mayor. However, although I intend to continue working with print to some degree, my experiences have left looking for different avenues to explore in journalism as I am hoping to use non-traditional Medias in order to access and describe new, faster and more obscure worlds. To go along with the video production, modern intellectual history, semiotics, and occasional IR, Philosophy or economics courses, I think that Global Media will give me the perfect foundation to locate, understand and render the margins of the hyper-modern world as well as the practical knowledge to live in it. Ultimately, with my Brown career, I want to learn how to evade the limits or restrictions that potentially may reduce my ability to explore freely, and make use of the technologies that will help me do so. Global Media presents a great opportunity to do both.

2. The AFSCME ad in the Times came in anticipation of segments of Tuesday’s State of the Union Address concerning Medicare and Wednesday’s House of Representatives’ vote on budget cutbacks for welfare programs. Framed by the Congressional Budget Office’s [CBO] findings that the plan would especially hurt the low-income, immigrant and elderly citizens, the ad hoped to used the President’s declining popularity in conjunction with failures of the Prescription Drug Plan in order to pressure enough Republican Representatives to distance themselves from Bush with a vote against the cutbacks. Through a narrow margin the bill was approved by the House and will go to Bush, yet there are subtext and inter-textual points of interests. The bordering and bullet-points replicate traditional one-page pamphlet structures, invoking a grassroots protest of the past against Bush’s ‘trickle-down” health plan, a reference to the controversial economic policy. This time, however, through actnow.org, supporters are asked to join an ‘online march’ powered by Google’s Tele-Atlas where they can choose and customize protest signs and even connect to other members through Google’s ‘get local’ toolbar. Potentially this digital network created by Beaconfire Consulting, a firm ‘serving non-profits’ in ‘internet technology’, could facilitate a movement in flesh. Finally, while supporters are asked to ‘act-now’ in the Emergency Campaign for America’s Priorities [ECAP]---and the background image of ambulances racing by with their sirens on but nobody behind the wheel seems to emphasize the point---they are, through a web of allegiances, essentially supporting the AFL-CIO via a subsidiary website.
3. My best guess for the etymology of the term ‘PROF notes’ goes back to when it was introduced as something to remember and something that would make more sense in the future, but also something that was never fully explained or defined. Quite possibly, and this is my crack-pot hypothesis, ‘PROF notes’, like Nietzsche’s theory “that which has no history cannot be defined,” exists in what Barthes would describe as “a multi-dimensional space in which a variety of definitions, all with no originality, clash.” In this respect, I propose that ‘PROF notes’ will become clear as students like myself post answers to your question, as you respond to these posts, and as your responses are interpreted. Although my answer assumes no correct or incorrect response, I may be severely over-thinking things.

Alexandra Trustman
Junior, Class of 2007
MCM concentrator

Bio:
During my time at Brown I have dedicated my studies to Modern Culture and Media—focusing towards national cinemas. Most of these classes have had a slant towards narrative cinema. Global Media would give me the opportunity to learn about different forms of media such as, web blogs, radio, print, pod casts, popular TV shows, even documentaries. I would also like to expand upon my studies, and begin to think about media as a contemporary mode for representation and exchange of information than Hollywood or avant-garde cinema permit. Coming from a background that has dealt with national cinema, I am especially curious about the “global” aspect of the class and how media doesn’t just represent or shape a nation but also influences International Relations. I just recently came from interning for an English magazine in Shanghai, where I was exposed, for the first time to the media of another country. The magazine I worked for is being launched this spring and will be similar to the publication “The Week,” in that is a compilation and source of Global News for expatriates living in China. After that experience I am even more determined to pursue Global Media. Part of what appeals to me most about this class is its interdisciplinary approach in that it encompasses many facets of Global Media from history and theory to production. This is another aspect of the class, which excites me—Freshman and Sophomore year I helped produce a TV show that aired on BTV and I also took introduction to filmmaking.

NYTimes Ad:
An advertisement for an A&E original movie about Flight 93 of the September 11th attacks was placed in the International section of Monday, January 30th’s New York Times. The advertisement itself is a photograph of a very dark, ominous plane set against a grey sky, that is angled to crash into bare and empty fields. This picture is clearly supposed to represent Flight 93, and the image has been constructed to evoke the fear of impending doom that the passengers on the plane felt, and that is associated with the events of 9/11. Despite the terror that the image inspires the caption on the advertisement is one that lauds the “forty brave passengers” from preventing the flight from reaching Washington. The image however, evokes no sense of heroism—but that of drama, why people would tune in to an A&E original movie. The placement of the advertisement within the paper contributes even more to this sense of fear. On the opposite page there is an article about the Hamas victory and the resulting uncertainty of Palestinian security forces. The photograph of that article is of a crowd of Palestinians carrying very intimidating machinery—in effect they are how we would imagine the terrorists that hijacked flight 93. In fact the final word of the Hamas article is “terrorists.” Here we have a direct comparison between the 9/11 hijackers and Hamas. The subtext being that we should feel similarly about the two groups and in turn support Bush’s War against Iraq, and his backing of Israel, two major issues of his State of the Union Address the following evening.

PROF notes:
My best guess as for PROF notes is that it has something to do with “to profess” or “to make note” like what we are doing for this entry exam.

My name is Alexis Lowry and I am a junior concentrating in History of Art and International Relations (PCI). I am interested in taking this class for two main reasons. On the one hand, as an International relations major I have tried to focus my studies on the media and the way it structures our perceptions of violence. I have geared my courses towards expanding my understanding of what role the media plays in shaping how we think and react to violence in its many forms. Thus, I have taken such courses as War and Society and Violence and the Media. Unfortunately, my courses have not been focused on the production aspects of the media, and for this reasons this class particularly attracts me. Furthermore, in trying to understand how the media effects our perceptions of violence, I am also interested in how the aesthetics of the media influence and change larger cultural aesthetics. As an art history major I am fascinated by cultural aesthetics, and I think this class will provide a unique means for exploring the ways in which the media changes the visual vocabulary that artists, filmmakers and others use to express themselves. I am particularly interested in the visual mediums of the media, although I am keen to explore the ways in which textual forms of the media also influence aesthetics. I hope that my fascination with cultural and social aesthetics would provide a different perspective from which to look at global media in this seminar. Also, for what it is worth I am outspoken, and not afraid to voice my opinion in class, which I think is important in a seminar setting.

On Monday January 30th, A and E television network ran an advertisement for the their made for television movie Flight 93. The movie, as the ad explains is about the fourth plane that was hijacked on September 11, 2001. Aesthetically the ad is simple and provoking. A large black plane is clearly headed towards crashing into an expansive field. The largeness of the aircraft immediately evokes the impending doom of the flight and its passengers. This advertisement is clearly playing on the imagery of 9/11. It is in dialogue with all of the most prominent images of the terrorist attacks, in that it features a large plane obviously destined to crash. Yet the ad plays more subtly on the memory of the terrorist attacks. As we all know the attacks where committed by Islamic fundamentalists, who “wanted to turn flight 93 into a weapon.” On the opposite page from the ad there is a long article about Hamas, a group commonly associated with terrorists and terrorism in the United States. In the article a photograph of Palestinians wielding machine guns provides visual justification for this assumption. Thus, the reader of the article and add is lead to draw the conclusion that the 9/11 terrorists and the men on the left page are one and the same type. The mixture of popular news and popular entertainment in this ad is particular interesting because of this connection that the reader can draw between Hamas and 9/11.

Kenta Tsuda, Junior PS Concentrator

I am a Political Science concentrator, who has studied PS, IR, Economics and History, as well as some literature. Complementing the Global Media Seminar I would be also studying Literature and Politics, European Intellectual History, and a course solely concerned with the writings of Niccolo Machiavelli: it would be a quite interesting mix.
Besides courses, I have also been involved in the production of media, one medium in particular – the Brown Journal of World Affairs. This semester as Editor I’ll be involved in the planning and production of our first 2006 Issue, which will be global in subject matter and contributors, as well as literally in its distribution.
I have been engaged in the study of international politics here at Brown. After studying the fundamental political philosophies underlying social and political organization, and then international relations theory, I have begun to look towards the interaction of culture, art, language with power. Having studied history, IR, and political theory, the area is fascinating, and consequently, precisely what the Global Media seminar will explore.

AONGI’s* ad, understood as response/preemption of concerns about influence of oil companies (Exxon profits, Chavez’s alternative provision, “no blood for oil”, etc.), seeks to legitimate AONGI, claiming commitment to American interests, as well as dispelling the very notion of high profits. It mimics a terse style of candor – accessible language, lack of distracting images (so it seems). Expressing a pluralistic “industry” not “oil companies” as named in the opening quotation, the ad hopes to dispel notions of oligarchic market distortion. The quotation poses an implicit question – can “earnings” be “too high”? Since agreement requires belief that one is not entitled to all one earns, the quotation invokes conventionally accepted liberal political-economic thinking, in which the fruit of one’s labor is practically sacrosanct.
In economics “earnings” refers to total revenue minus input costs, i.e. profit (“earnings” suggests entitlement unlike “profits”), making subsequent passages about costs of “just operating” irrelevant digressions, since they refer to input costs already subtracted from “earnings”. The ad cynically assumes readers’ ignorance of terminological distinctions.
“Straight talk about earnings” physically interjects after differentiation of “Main and Wall Street” views; departure from the “Main Street” view allegedly provides the “straight” unimpeded revelation.
Parenthetically, the graph displays earnings in cents per dollar of sales. The advertisement suggests that AONGI generates less profit than others, however, considering the magnitude of energy sales, AONGI’s net profit is likely much higher.
One could discuss, use of “we” describing AONGI as essential public-servants. as opposed to “it” when discussing exorbitant input costs.

* America’s Oil and Natural Gas Industry

1. Jayesh Needham
Junior, International Relations Concentrator (PCI track)

I wrote an email to you at the end of last semester expressing great interest in this course because I am very interested in many of the issues it attempts to tackle. I initially became interested in media in an academic sense, especially the media’s representation of international situations and conflicts, when I took Violence and the Media (AN128) last Spring with Professor Kay Warren. Global Media is a great way to expand the knowledge I gained in Professor Warren’s course because while her course was very theory-based, your course not only expands on different theories of Global Media, but also works with the history and production of media itself, which I see as invaluable to better understanding it. I am particularly interested in the Production aspect of the course, because I have very little background in this, and to have professors that have all worked in the production of documentaries is an amazing opportunity to learn about the production process and its potential influences. I am hoping to intern this summer with a major media outlet such as CNN or NBC, so the knowledge and understanding I can gain from this course is not only invaluable from an academic sense, but also a professional one, because I know I would draw on what I learned both in Professor Warren’s course as well as this one in my upcoming work. I am also particularly interested in the “Global” aspect of the class (which I know we will spend a lot of time dissecting what exactly the word itself means in various media-related contexts) because having spent this last semester abroad in Barcelona, Spain, has only intensified my interest in the media because seeing their representations of international issues in comparison to the American media’s representations of very similar issues has only made the “global” aspect of media more intriguing to me. As Brown does not offer many courses of this nature, I want to take advantage of it while it is still offered, especially because it seems it probably will not be offered next year, which means I would miss my opportunity to take it. For these reasons, I really want to take your course this semester.

2. The advertisement placed in the New York Times on January 30th for the made-for-TV movie Flight 93 depicts a plane nose-diving into an abandoned field. In general, the picture is very dark and desolate, meant to invoke the terror behind the movie’s theme: the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Even though the text of the ad highlights the bravery of the forty flight passengers and crew, the image certainly does not seem to imply this bravery, but rather wants to highlight fear. This movie, presented on the night of January 30th, came at a very convenient time, the night before President Bush’s State of the Union address, where he continued to emphasize the importance of national security and the war on terror and it seems more than coincidence that a film about the terrorist attacks of 9/11 should be shown with such proximity. It also seems more than coincidence that the ad’s imagery for the movie seems to highlight fear as opposed to bravery when national security and the need to protect ourselves and our interests would play such a significant role in the State of the Union address the following night. In addition, on the following page of the New York Times that day there was an article with the headline “Rice admits U.S. Did Not Foresee Hamas Election Victory,” an article once again about uncertainty and the fear of Hamas taking power in Palestine. Finally, I also found it interesting to look at the other types of ads that were on this page, and I was struck by the large Porsche ad for their new car the Cayenne Turbo S, and it made me think of the particular audience the ad for the A&E movie, the Hamas article, and the Porsche ad were playing to. I was reminded of an article we read in Violence and the Media last year by Herman and Chomsky that discussed the importance of audience in the placement of advertisements and stories in various media and how media of different forms go through a filtering process depending on the types of advertisers and audiences they want to reach. I find it no coincidence that these ads and the Hamas story were all in such close proximity to one another or that the State of the Union Address happened to be the following night.

3. My best guess is that for PROF notes, we should look to the word profess for the etymology, which comes from the Middle English professen, “to take vows,” from Old French profes, “that has taken a religious vow,” and from Medieval Latin professre, “to administer a vow.” Pro also means “to set forth” while pro + fatr means “to acknowledge.” (Taken from dictionary.com).

Anya Goldstein. Super Senior. Class of 2006 (fingers crossed). Modern U.S. History.

I’d like to take this course because I’m very interested in journalism, (the) media, representation, politics, and people. I’m particularly excited about the history/theory/production format of the course class, which is an unusual and exciting way of pursuing critical inquiry. I took an amazing seminar in the history department about war, media and culture in the 20th c. U.S. which whet my appetite for exploring the historical context of our contemporary global media. I’d love to learn more about both the history and the nitty-gritty of media control and production, as well as theoretical tools to understand the ways in which media/the media produce meaning and material reality. I look forward to flexing my audio-editing muscles in this course, and expanding my familiarity with video. I do radio news now and would like to do more broadcast or print or newmedia journalism in the future, so this could turn out to go somewhere for me. Whatever I do I intend to remain politically engaged and critical, so this education can’t hurt. I can’t really argue about why I should be in this class – it seems to me that anyone who honestly wants to take this class for whatever reasons should be on the same footing (regardless of career plans or amazing resume). Except of course the senior/super mcm/ir concentrators – they’ve put in their time and they definitely deserve a leg up.

The ACLU took out a full page ad in the International section of Tuesday’s NYT, on A9. The ad’s location (quite close to the front) ensures a larger audience, as reflected in its price. The venue itself, ‘America’s newspaper of record’, provides access to a mass of affluent and at least somewhat politically interested readers. This audience is far more likely to be receptive to the ACLU’s bundle of messages than a sampling of the general U.S. population. The ACLU in general shares rhetorical/political mode with the NYT’s editorials – both producers of text position themselves as true patriots, neutral defenders of the “real America,” against conservative perversions of that sacred tradition – and the ACLU’s ad tone engages intertextually with this legacy. The explicit message in this ad is that the Bush administration has violated/is violating American civil liberties (spying, PATRIOT Act, rendition, etc.), that the reader should “tell the White House” this and “speak out in your community,” and finally, that the reader should financially support the ACLU. The ad appears the day of Bush’s State of the Union address, and explicitly appears (in its content and rhetorical form) to respond to it. One of many ‘subtexts’ in this ad is the unspoken message to liberal NYT readers: “we already know you don’t like Bush’s agenda. Focus your dissent – your dollars, and your activism – on our issues. Protest about violations of the Constitution, focus your energies here, leave aside the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the deplorable state of health care.” etc. I guess we could all go on forever, but I’m out of space.

What the hell are PROF Notes? Without knowing definition I’m guessing etymologically from Professor Notes, y’all can look’em up on the OED if you want to know the etymology of those guys. www.oed.com

Oliver Ward Schulze, Sophomore, IR (Global Security) and History concentrator. Prior to coming to Brown, I studied International Relations and Modern History at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. While there, I worked as an intern and group profiler for the Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence (CSTPV), and profiled leaderless resistance groups in the US. Through the experience of this internship, I became more and more aware of the roles that media and technology play in modern conflict. With the proliferation of new media such as blogs and streaming video, it is clear that new technologies can be used by all people, no matter who they are or whose side they are on. By exposing myself to media in the so-called technological age, I began to pursue personal research projects about cases like Kurdish North Iraq after the Gulf War. In a time where the receiver of information is more important than its validity, the role of media will be crucial in determining the future of international relations. I want to take this course because I see how much the media has both changed and not changed since McLuhan wrote that we live in a "global village". Indeed, we live in a global village, where geographic separation seems to be the only remaining force keeping people apart. There has been much discussion post-9/11 that has focused on both the media's separation from and connection to political parties and interests. This class is one of the first of its kind that works to seriously interrogate the relationship between media and politics/culture/society and to be able to take it when it is still in its formative stages would be a wonderful experience that would help me with my future studies and professional career. This summer, I will be working on a documentary film that examines the conflict in West Africa and Sierra Leone; I hope that what I learn in this class will prepare me for working in a different environment and will help me to bring insight and experience to this project.

The Partnership for a Secure America (PSA) creates a powerful message to a vulnerable readership with its advertisement seeks to address national security--or, as it promotes, a lack of national security. The center of the piece is a crosshairs over America. The image of a weapon signifies at its most basic an imminent threat or danger. The technologically advanced nature of the riflescope view with range marks implies that our enemies are equal with us: they, too, can attack using innovative, modern means. By filling the US with people, PSA goes as far as to say that all American people are at risk; and, if all Americans are at risk, then so are American ideals. However, the man singled out in the center of the ad is looking back at the audience, as if to represent both the threat and the "average" American. It is questionable what his presence in the picture means. Is he a threat to my country? Or is he another person like me who is at risk? By questioning the exact idea of the state of the union, PSA seeks to interrogate not only if we are safer but “how” President Bush actually seeks to address national security and terrorism. Despite PSA's claims to be bipartisan, they say "While the war in Iraq remains at the center of America's agenda, we must not lose sight of the ongoing terrorist threat," a statement that discounts the link between Iraq and terrorism. Though this does not necessarily mean that PSA is inherently liberal, it does conjure the alleged "liberal" stance that there is a clear separation between the Al-Qaeda threat to people of the state of America, and Iraq's insurgency as a terrorist threat in Iraq. Below this, the inclusion of a long list of prominent public officials gives legitimacy to PSA in what has become a shouting match among all participants in the national security debate. The ad is conveniently placed opposite an article that reports the conservative leanings of the Supreme Court, following Samuel Alito's nomination. As the Bush administration continues to face public scrutiny, the decisions made by the Supreme Court will have significant effects on the war on terror. Thus, the juxtaposition of this ad and the article implies that the Supreme Court's decisions will affect the security of the nation, and asks the reader to be vigilant about the future of national defense policy.

Leora Fridman, Literary Arts Concentrator c/o 2007

I would make an integral part of the Global Media course because of my study of the theory and production of language as well as because of my recent study abroad in Israel and the broadened outlook that I have on media relations as a result. At Ben-Gurion University in Beersheva I researched the interactions of media and politics in the Middle East and the way in which secular, religious and ethnic media relate within Israel. I worked closely with CBS correspondent David Gilbert in his work in the Occupied Territories and learned a great deal from him about media within war environment. Gilbert works primarily in web-broadcast radio and challenged me to reconsider where and how media is received through different filters, particularly in the Middle East, where narratives and interpretations of news sources can vary so widely. I also taught English in a Bedouin nomad community in the Negev desert, and through that experience confronted directly many of the images and texts placed between American citizens and Arab children through global media. I have worked a good deal in print and hypertext journalism, including an immersion in the interaction of city politics and journalism at The Somerville News in Boston as well as work at the Brown Daily Herald. I am now being trained in radio journalism as well through BSR’s “Off the Beat.” The broad range of my experiences (academic and otherwise) would not only lend a creative and unique angle to the class but would allow me to challenge and further my own goals in the exploration of cross-cultural weight and production of media.

A&E’s advertisement for “Flight 93” that appeared in The New York Times on Monday, January 30th hides its filmmakers in respect to the 9/11 tragedy but also plays dramatically with the hero to unite Americans behind an increasingly delicate national identity. 9/11 revealed to the USA that despite its superpower status it does not function as orderer of global anarchy and that its history can be interfered with by foreign “objects”. The ad reads, “they stopped it from reaching its target,” and emphasizes the plane-object rather than individual terrorists. The only humans in this ad are the passengers and are not pictured. Also significantly absent are the terrorists, the enactors of the events on Flight 93. The ad replays a strategy of construction and deconstruction of the individual used to unite Americans behind the War on Terror. Intertextually, this ad repeats the way that witnesses processed 9/11 as an imaginary cinematic scene because cinematic plane-crashes were the most familiar frame for the event. As Roland Barthes argues of writing in “Death of the Author,” when an ad such as this is created purely to textualize a moment, the role of the Author as owner and controller of the text falls away and the interpretative power of the spectator is emphasized in how they choose to re-textualize 9/11 and react to this process. In his speech at Brown last year, Bill Clinton described today’s world in terms of “negative and positive interdependence” and stressed the importance of thinking in terms of integrated global community. This ad reflects American struggles to come to terms with personal versus global roles in today’s reality of intranational penetrability. The advertisement claims this is the authoritative story but neglects to mention that through the characters, imagery and concept of “tribute” that it manipulates, it tells a national narrative projected upon a global context, rather than a global narrative itself.

The meaning of “PROF notes” will become known to me as an intertext when someone else defines it, as its multidimensional nature is not yet clear to me. This non-knowledge is probably a result of my completely external position in relation to what Althusser calls the “ideological state apparatus,” which operates to define and instill meaning upon the subjects of an ideology. Perhaps in describing my inability to define “PROF notes” I will come to understand its meaning, for, as the great French philosopher Blaise Pascal once said, “kneel down, move your lips in prayer, and you will believe.”

1. Jen Hustwitt

I am a junior, concentrating in international relations – global security and history.

Most of my course work has revolved around reading texts; therefore I’m eager to study international relations from a broader perspective.

I am generally interested in how documentaries translate across cultural and economic divides and how they enhance, reproduce and counteract power dynamics, globally and locally. Specifically, however, I am interested in the relationship between global media, conflict and peacekeeping efforts in East Africa. This interest stems from fieldwork in Uganda through a Royce fellowship and travel in Rwanda, as well as significant academic work in relation to these experiences. While I was in Uganda, I was also introduced to a group making a documentary about the 31-year conflict in northern Uganda, one of the most under-reported conflicts in the world.

I am interested in the incident where eighteen U.S. peacekeepers were killed and dragged through the streets of Mogadishu, Somalia in October of 1993. I am interested in how the broadcasting of this incident is said to have created distaste for Chapter VII peacekeeping missions among global powers, right as the Rwandan genocide was unfolding. I am interested in further military operations in the 1990’s, including NATO’s bombing of Bosnia and Yugoslavia in 1994 and 1999 respectively.

I’m looking to put together an I.R. thesis proposal this spring and I believe this course could form the base of a unique undergraduate thesis.

I have wanted to take this course since I first saw it. I am on the pre-registration list.

2. The advertisement titled “straight talk on profits,” is a message from America’s Oil and Natural Gas Industry. Specifically, it was run by the American Petroleum Institute. In the State of the Union speech the day following this advertisement, the President discussed America’s “addiction to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world.” While the advertisement is paid space, the page following the advertisement is regular NY Times coverage consisting of news reports under the title, “The Struggle for Iraq.” These reports display U.S. entanglement in the unstable, oil-rich Middle East.

The critiques of the oil industry’s profits generally relate to the year that has just passed. At the end of January 2006, the BBC reported that Exxon’s profits were up 42% from the previous year, reaching $36 billion. This was a new benchmark for the industry. The information presented in the chart covers a time frame almost five times longer than the time frame to which widespread critiques of the oil industry refer. The chart presents industry earnings from October 2000 to September 2005.

The advertisement seeks to create distance from the general media and its space for the critique that earnings are too high. At the beginning of the small print, the ad seeks to move legitimacy and justification to a place where profit is seen as success, Wall St. It seeks to distance itself from places where that assumption is contested, such as the paper newspaper, while published in that very space.

3. PROF notes comes from “professional notes”.

I am an international relations major who has taken extensive coursework in IR, history, and political science. I became interested in this class after I attended a violent anti-Bush protest in Argentina and realized that the mainstream US media coverage of the event differed greatly from my own experience; since that day, I became extremely interested in media biases and the way in which the press shapes and alters our national worldview.
I am also interested in this seminar because I will be spending this summer working in the media relations department of the UN-sponsored international court in Sierra Leone. The court is trying military leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the aftermath of a brutal, decade long conflict. My task will be to monitor the national and international press the court is receiving. In addition, I am applying to a Brown fellowship program with the intention of creating some sort of visual presentation (hopefully a documentary) about the pursuit of peace and justice in Africa, as well as the broader controversy over what opponents claim to be the imposition of Western notions of justice on non-Western people.

Running the day before President Bush’s State of the Union speech was given, the bi-partisan political organization Partnership for A Secure America placed a political ad in the New York Times that was preemptive rather than counteractive, anticipating the content of the presidents address and preemptively refuting both his language and message.
The ad plays to the fears of its audience, fears that have been catered to and exploited by various politicians and organizations since the attacks of 9/11. The ad displays a multitude of faces, with a middle age, white male in focus at the center, emphasizing both the randomness and universality of the terrorist threat; the ad suggests that any American citizen could be targeted, at any time. The language employed in the ad reinforces this theme, with the words “dangerously vulnerable” in large bold print beneath the image.
The ad, and the organization, describes itself as “bi-partisan,” yet while not explicitly political, the ad is an implicit criticism of President Bush’s policies ad performance with regards to national security. “Four years after September 11, we are not nearly as prepared as we must be to respond at home,” the ad reads in bold print, albeit smaller than the more provocative message above. The ad preemptively contradicts President Bush’s assertions that US citizens are more secure now, under his administration, than they were prior to 9/11.

I’m Ariana. I am a senior concentrating in International Relations, Political Economy Track. Global Media would be an ideal class for my last semester here for a number of reasons. I am interested in going into journalism and/or writing for NGOs that publish widely. In particular, I’m interested in getting involved in alternative and progressive publications and reporting on issues of conflict (ethnic/intraregional/genocide). I took a very interesting Mass Media class in the Political Science department that dealt with U.S. media only and had a policy-driven perspective. I am interested in expanding my understanding of the role of media in this course by widening the lens to look at international media and by considering an analysis with an emphasis on media theory and post-structuralism etc. I hope to take my previously acquired knowledge about IR theory a further step by examining it through (and in relation to) “popular culture” and an “MCM” perspective.
I am applying to take this course in the hopes that it will introduce me to the wide range of media and alternative media I am not already familiar with. I also see it as an opportunity to become more familiar with the medium of the documentary and to learn how to make a documentary. I have thought about going into documentary making in the past. In a less opportunistic spirit, I see Global Media as a space to discuss and critique the powerful political role of media. I have long been aware of the huge power of the media in shaping and responding to economic/political conflict. In particular, the advent of the “war on terror” changed the definition of free speech, long considered a benchmark of the American press. When it became evident that the “voice” of the New York Times and many other mainstream sources became restricted in the post-911 environment, it was clear that the U.S. had entered an era eerily reminiscent of the Cold War. Before I get any more carried away, I’ll just say I’m interested in going into some of these issues at length. I believe I can contribute a lot to Global Media by adding my knowledge and analysis to the many topics we’ll explore.

One context of the ad for FLIGHT 93 was the International Section of the New York Times. Particularly important to note because this the section of the NYT where issues related to the war on terror and international conflict are covered. Another context of the ad was that it was aired a day before the State of the Union. I saw the beginning of the movie when it was aired right after Bush’s address, a rather disturbing (in my opinion) follow up to the speech and intended as a sort of visual reinforcement of the argument for strengthened national security. The context of the State of the Union speech and the International News Section carries importance for the ad which was promoting a movie that in a certain sense was selling not only viewership to A&E but also support for the Bush administration’s anti-terrorism plan. Particularly evocative is the enormous and grainy image of a plane (as opposed to an image of the “characters,” for example) sailing down to crash into a grassy plain. The subtext of this image is that it is commonly considered a visual representation of 9/11 since the airplane was the weapon of choice for the attacks. Below the plane, the text of the ad points to this subtext, reading “Four terrorists wanted to turn flight 93 into a weapon.” In contrast to this desire of the aggressor, the text points to the bravery of the “passengers and crew” who “stopped it…” The subtext of contrasting the “want” of the terrorists and the “bravery” of the victims is related to the administration’s contrast of the “good” and “evil” caught up in this war. The state of the Union had a heavy emphasis on paying respect to the heros in the war, particularly those in the army. In terms of intertext, there is a contrast of “perspective” and historical “truth” in this ad (and the movie). On the one hand, the movie is fictional in that it is a drama (an A&E original, as the ad explains). On the other hand, the film depicts a play-by-play account of historical events, thereby implying a certain element of truth. In the ad, the largest text is the title of the film and also the name of the actual flight (Flight 93). Here again, in the space of intertext, the actual existence of the plane and its crash (truth) is contrasted with the title of the film (a drama/fiction).

Michael Peart, Senior IR-Global Security Concentrator.

There are two reasons why I should be in the seminar.
First, my Honors thesis attempts to synthesize the Third Debate in IR between positivists and post-positivists. I transcend the ontological debate by describing the role of communication and argument amongst all members of the international community. The argument relies heavily the notion of collective intentionality as defined by Searle, which he adapted from Durkheim, as well as communicative action as defined by Habermas. Aside from the formal channels of diplomacy and institutions, I argue that almost all communicative action of the international variety is done through the (distorted?) medium of global media which creates the intersubjective “reality” of the international system.
Second, I work for a research group called the Electronic Democracy Center at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy which investigates the effects on democracy of the emergence of Information and Communication Technologies. From e-voting to digital political identity, this research group has written reports commissioned by the EU Parliament as well as several member states and Switzerland. Currently, I am in charge of a study of American Online Political Life, which studies the effects of government websites, internet media, political party websites, and discourse through blogging on American politics.
The topic of this course is therefore very relevant to my both of my current research projects. Furthermore, I will be able to contribute a working knowledge of this subject and a familiarity with IR and sociological theory.

The context of the advertisement is its coincidence with Bush’s speech. In recent months, the Administration has come under criticism for actions that may or may not infringe on citizens’ negative liberties in the name of security.
The subtext of the message is conveyed strongest in the opening line. The idea that the two visions of America are not the same immediately others the message of President Bush. This kind of political dialogue defines the political truth in a dialectic fashion since the closest approximation of an objective truth is a simultaneous consideration (a synthesis) of the subjective views of the agents involved: the ACLU and the Bush Administration. Thus the subtext of the message makes a point: the ACLU disagrees with the policies of the Bush Administration. The subtext serves to emphasize that Bush’s message should not be taken simply as a given.
The intertext is the importance of the text vis-à-vis other texts. There are three points here. First, the advertisement was run in the New York Times, a predominantly liberal publication whose columnists generally criticize the policies of the Bush Administration. Second, it is propaganda because creating spin becomes all but imperative when faced with the intertextual reality that proponents of opposing views offer spin as well. Third, the advertisement was run before the address aired. This means that part of its intertextual purpose was to add its own choice of color to the cultural landscape against which Bush’s speech was to be viewed by his audience.

My name is Myles Lennon and I am a senior Development Studies concentrator. I should be admitted into this class based on the following qualifications: 1) I’m a senior; 2) I’m a development Studies concentrator, and Thomas Biersteker said that due to the lack of upper level DS courses, DS students should be considered equally as IR students for IR seminars; and 3) I pre-registered for the course. Additionally, the issues of this course are deeply important to me. I often feel that privileged progressives valorize the increasingly diffuse sources of information and the widely accessible information technologies as the most democratic development of the twenty-first century. Blogs will undercut the power of big news corporations who once had a monopoly on messages, or so we are told. Although information is undoubtedly disposed from more sources in more mediums than ever before, I am very skeptical that this information age will truly make technology the megaphone for “the [elusive] people.” In this course I hope to interrogate the idea that IPods that play movies will somehow bring Rupert Murdoch to his knees, (I’m exaggerating here, of course). At the same time I am hopeful that creative messaging and the (re)appropriation of discourses and forums for information via diffuse information sources can bring about change. I believe profoundly in the power to change the world through enunciation and a clear understanding of how information technologies are being utilized to disseminate meanings will allow me to understand how to best use these technologies toward (what I deem to be) progressive ends. Lastly, understanding how global media has historically monopolized knowledge and used that knowledge to shape the world is integral to my work as a DS concentrator.

A text cannot be thoroughly analyzed without consideration of its context, subtext and intertext. Furthermore, context, subtext and intertext don’t always each refer to one thing. In the case of the A&E advertisement for its “original movie” Flight 93, for example, one could say that the context is the New York Times or widely circulated print media or even this class assignment. And the context does not exclusively refer to the forum the text is being displayed in, but also, for example, the time it is being shown. This ad was printed days before the State of the Union address, which, uncoincidentally, addressed the major themes of the movie – safety, terrorism and “September 11.” The subtext is also not unitary. Although on the surface the ad aims to advertise a movie on one of the “September 11” hijackings, in its picture of the airplane and blurb valorizing the flight’s passengers as “brave” the text also aims to speak to the fear, anger and patriotism resonating in many Americans since the terrorist attacks at the center of the film. It also aims to intrigue potential viewers by depicting the movie as a source for alleviating the uncertainty around the attacks; without any disclaimers – in the absence of any statements questioning the validity of the scripted reenactment – the ad ostensibly portrays the movie as a factual portrayal of the attacks. Lastly, this ad is in dialogue with many other texts and discourses. The intertext can be the newspaper’s articles, themselves declaring truth statements and accuracy in re-enactment (i.e. reporting) thereby bestowing a degree of legitimacy to the product the ad is pushing, or the dominant discourses on terrorism and “September 11,” which the ad relies on to grip its audience.

David Gomel ‘06

Bio:
I am a senior concentrating in International Relations (Global Security). While my primary academic interests lie in international relations I would describe myself as something of a technologist. During my time at Brown I have, as of yet, been unable to find a class able to draw on my interest in IR and in technology. I am extremely excited about this class because it is the first (that I have seen) to incorporate the effects of the globalization of media through technology and international relations theory. While my experience in media theory is limited, I strongly believe that my interests will make me a valuable member of the seminar (not to mention that I need this course for my concentration).

I should also note that I have had some experience with video production in high school and would love the opportunity to be involved in the production side of the course as well.

NYTimes Ad:
The advertisement for the A&E movie about United Flight 93, which appeared in the international section of the New York Times on January 30th, depicts the final moments of the doomed flight. The ad’s dark and ominous image of the plane racing into the ground appears to be juxtaposed by the caption, lauding the “forty brave passengers and crew” who stopped the plane from “reaching its target”. However, this image (a digital creation) is not one typically associated with September 11th. To virtually all of us, 9/11 is represented by the image of the fireball tearing through the South Tower of the World Trade Center as United Flight 175 is buried in the building and the ensuing collapses. The fireball, the Towers, the collapse, and the immediacy of the death and destruction are missing from the ad. The passengers of Flight 93 sacrificed themselves to save others from that fate and in doing became heroes. When viewed in the larger context of the war in Iraq, the crisis currently brewing over Iran’s nuclear program, and President Bush’s State of the Union which addressed these issues, the media paints us a dark and ominous picture; one in need of selfless individuals who are ready to be heroes. We must, however, stand back and question the moral absolutism vaunted by Bush in his speeches. Is terrorism as simple as ‘good vs. evil’ or does the fact that the four hijackers of Flight 93 were seen as heroes to many around the world mean anything?

To be honest, I have very little experience with media analysis. As an IR (GS) and History concentrator at Brown, my education to this point has predominantly focused on the historical and theoretical developments in international relations. Besides Violence and the Media and Race, Class, & Gender in the Disney Film (don’t laugh), I have had limited familiarity with media production and interpretation. However, the little experience I have had has left me with a strong desire to examine the nature and effects of more accessible media on public interpretation. I did work with image control and media relations in Senator Joseph Biden’s Washington office in 2004. (Little known fact: for a man who speaks so brazenly, he’s surprisingly sensitive). This experience heightened my awareness of the positioning, emphasis, choice, and absence of language in conveying tailored images through text. My travels to Sri Lanka have profoundly encouraged my deep interest in the influence of media in perpetuating conflict through its accessibility and political manipulation. While I understand my knowledge base may not be as comprehensive as desired, my sincere interest in the politics of portrayal and the persuasive use of language leave me with a genuine ambition to learn more about a subject that has interested me for so long. This course would provide me with the first and only chance to explore the dynamics of global media to this extent (and to analyze “24” for more than a survival guide to worst-case scenarios). If I could have the opportunity to audit the class providing there is room, I would be more than willing to complete any assignments required and to fully participate in discussion. Thank you for your consideration.

greetings all:

it seems the spam filter was keeping some entries from being posted (!) - we've dialed it down, but let me and/or ellen_darling@brown.edu know if you continue to have difficulties.

In the meantime, take a look at a medium that we need to consider: digital/political anime -
http://current.cf.huffingtonpost.com/

VTY
JDD

Joe Posner '07
Multimedia and Electronic Music Experiments Concentrator

Making things has always been what drives me, so I found my place at Brown in what we have closest to a Digital Media Production department, also doubling as an outlet for my love of making music. I've also spent much of my time here taking Political Science and Public Policy classes, and two MCM courses: Intro to Digital Media with Wendy Chun and Sound and Image with Roger Mayer. In my extracurricular life, I've spent a summer starting what's become a continuing project of a documentary on politically charged rappers Mr. Lif and Akrobatik of Boston. I've spent the bulk of my past summer and winter vacation traveling around the country playing small clubs with my band Get Him Eat Him. I've also spent the past three years as publicity chair for the Brown Concert Agency, promoting our fall concert and Spring Weekend. This semester I plan to work hard on production skills, and I'm taking both a sound production class, my second computer animation class, and hopefully this class! The goals of Global Media would make it an indispensable addition to my Brown experience, a scarce chance to bring together my interest in digital media production, and the impact of media on politics under the umbrella of one class.
_____________________

The AFSCME's "Health Care In Crisis" ad was published the morning before the State of the Union, a context for the piece. That night, but as had been reported for a week, Bush proposed a "cost containment" plan for health care. The reporting on the plan before the speech painted it as an attempt to correct a tax “unfairness” in health care, but also highly unlikely to be an effective "cost containment device."

The advertisement relies heavily on this context, as no data, background or "fact checking" are provided. One subtext is the ad is speaking to people who don't really need to be "convinced." The text is all slogans that Paul Krugman's readers would probably recognize and agree with, and the New York Times' supposed liberal readership might explain the ad's decision to forgo substance for a rallying call.

Another subtext is in the design: the entire thing reads like a quickly written protest chant, and it looks like a protest sign, stenciled lettering and the very blunt object of ambulances used to suggest EMERGENCY!. The call to "ACT NOW" by naming their website www.actnow.org could be a capstone signal to aging baby boomer's often connected with such protesting, or more simply to anyone likely to mobilize.

The AFSCME’s claims to “the people’s interest” brings up the intertext that all parties involved will attempt to be in the people’s interest – saving people money on taxes will also do that too. No one would say they are a special interest, and the ad clearly does nothing to attempt to explain “the people’s interest” beyond defining it as “all Americans.”

Linda Evarts ‘06
History & LAS

I’m a senior concentrating in History and Latin American Studies, as well as a soon-to-be-graduate hoping to soon find gainable employment as a journalist or media critic. I’ve interned for NPR, written for the BDH and the Indy, and edited for the BJWA, though I’m most interested in the study of the media—the sort of play that my guilty pleasure, NPR’s “On the Media”, does with panache. Folks like NYU’s Clay Shirky have gotten me thinking about the Internet’s democratizing impact on social and informational organization, and Harvard’s Global Voices (c/o the Berkman Center) has given me a home working with Latin American bloggers and the opportunity to explore ever new and creative uses of the Internet in the developing world.
As for your class, I would love the chance to work with you, John Santos, and Eugene Jarecki on the topic of global media in war and peace. I began to think about the interplay of media and war in Omer Bartov’s War, Culture and Society seminar last year, and this more production-oriented course seems like a fitting extension of that study. I’ve picked up odds and ends of IR theory throughout my Brown journey: read, the course’s broad beginnings are welcome, as are the more juicy topics to come later. Honestly, with sexy titles like “Spies, Speed & Terror” and “New Media & the New World Order,” how can I hold back from applying? And, of course, I appreciate the excuse to do a documentary.

AO&NGI’s “Straight talk on earnings” advertisement dismisses reports of Exxon and other oil companies’ sky-high profits, focusing instead on how the oil and natural gas industry exemplifies American values and serves the nation’s needs. Juxtaposed with articles about Iran’s continued (albeit lessened) recalcitrance in the face of IAEA demands, the ad stresses AO&NGI’s importance in providing Americans with a “stable and reliable” energy supply in the context of chronic Middle East instability. The need to find alternatives to Middle East oil would dominate the president’s State of the Union discussion of energy, and oil companies figured prominently in his proposed solution: the “American Competitiveness Initiative,” providing tax breaks and educational grants to corporations and students respectively, to encourage the nation’s “educated, hardworking, ambitious people.”
In the ad, AO&NGI cloaks itself in the Republican-style business ideal (as a “competitive” and “high-technology” business), and tries to place profits (“earnings”) in perspective by watering down recent economic figures with 5-year data and focusing on the high costs of operation (to the chagrin of every intro business student, who knows earnings are calculated after costs are subtracted). Cleverly using the pronoun “it”, AO&NGI absolves itself of personal responsibility in determining operating costs—and the oil status quo more generally—by assuring readers that an abstract “it” makes non-negotiable demands (“it costs,” “it requires”) on the industry. A linguistic dance ensues when it transforms to “our,” as in “you, our customers,” and AO&NGI proclaims its active work in the service of “our” (collective) nation.

Naomi Smith
Senior, Middle East Studies

1. Bio
Many years of living in and studying the Middle East have exposed me to outrageous misuses of news for propaganda and oppressive purposes. I have seen the editor of a newspaper swamped by threats and hate mail because he allowed an article that objectively discussed Israel’s case. I have seen intelligent, educated, usually tolerant Westerners resort to an irrational hatred of Muslims as a violent reaction to the incessant “America bashing” of the local media. On the flip side of the coin, I have also been exposed to hate propaganda and sensationalism in the US media while at university here. I strongly feel that such misuse of news contradicts the essentials principles of news delivery, which are to inform, educate, engage, and pose questions. As someone who believes in the global dissemination of truth, and as someone with career aspirations in journalism, I hope this class will arm me with an in-depth, critical but balanced understanding of the history, power politics, and ever-multiplying forms of production and connections that constitute today’s global media – the better to initiate change from within. This class would also perfectly complement my capstone project on representations of the Middle East in the Western media, which I will be writing this semester.
Relevant courses: PS40 Conflict and Cooperation in International Politics, MC170.5 Commercial and Alternative Television (including production), EL16 Journalistic Writing, AN128 Violence in the Media

2. “Partnership for a Secure America” Ad
This advertisement must be considered in the context of Bush’s State of the Union address, not only in terms of timing – the ad ran a day before the president’s address – but also in terms of preemptive language and rhetorical devices. The largest text on the page – “State of the Union?” – functions as a simple but cutting pun on the president’s speech. The full impact of this question is heightened the ominous image it captions, which shows a map of America and a white man (looking typically American) in a crowd at the center of a gun’s crosshairs. This image plays on public fears of the terrorist threat that politicians and the media have exploited since 9/11. Coupled with language such as “dangerously vulnerable”, “risk”, “not prepared”, “massive terrorist attack” and “urgent and pressing needs”, the ad heightens this pre-existing climate of fear, uncertainty and violence, thus insidiously leading the reader to believe that the “highest priority of government (is) the safety and security of the American people”. Further, in an unusual and disconcerting role reversal, PSA places us in the position of the terrorist by placing us as Americans behind the gun, insinuating that by doing nothing we are complicit in killing our fellow citizens. Although PSA is a bipartisan organization, which it tries to emphasize by including a list of recognizable names from both parties, its placement in a mainly liberal newspaper, and its subtext – a preemptive refutation of Bush’s claims of providing a more secure America under his administration – necessarily betrays some political bias.

I'm a senior concentrator in modern culture and media, with an interest in documentary and politically-focused production. I have significant background in media studies and semiotics, and have taken a number of courses in different departments (development studies, public health, africana, etc.) on international issues, but I have never taken an IR course while at Brown. I've also studied media through many different lenses, and am interested in looking at it from a new (IR) perspective. In addition, I do production work, and I'm interested in documentary. My senior project is a short documentary which focuses on issues around structural inequality and social construction in health. The list of documentaries for this class looks great, and I'm excited about a praxis class where I would have the opportunity to do production work in conjunction with studying theory. My ulterior motive is that this class would fulfill a graduation requirement, so I also am hoping to take the class for that reason.

[Natural Gas and Oil Ad]
Context: This ad was published soon after Exxon Mobil's recent announcement of record profits for both the year and quarter. In addition, the last year has seen a drastic increase in gas prices, and people are generally unhappy with the high cost of gas.
Subtext: The ad is laid out like a textbook, or informational document. A chart sits atop the page, marshalling the authority of "neutral" statistics, and scientific objectivity. Keeping with the textbook model, below the chart is a blurb which explains the relevance of the chart, in simple terms. The text contrasts the "word" on "main street" with the "perspective" on "wall street," deploying the idea that expert knowledge is more accurate than lay knowledge (rumor). The ad's subtext seems to be that while people may think that gas companies are unethically turning huge profits, really, the experts, backed by objective charts and numbers, can tell us that's actually not true.
Intertext: This ad came out on within a day of the state of the union address, and the backside of the page the ad was on had a number of articles about the current state of the war in Iraq. The article also ended by saying: "we are prepared to make the necessary reinvestments to ensure our nation has a stable and reliable supply of energy today and tomorrow." The interaction between texts implies not just that these gas companies are not generating excessive profits, but that they are actually being patriotic. The inter-textual relation to articles on the war in Iraq creates the notion that these high gas prices are not the fault of the coporations, but the fault of terrorists. The high gas prices (and the corporations setting those profits) are presented not only as fair, but as nobly working to ensure the current and future well-being of the nation.

Lauren Hinkson
Senior
History of Art and Architecture

For eighteen years of my life I lived in Perrysburg, Ohio; a town that did not stock a single newspaper or magazine with even a shade of liberal ideology. Consequently, I have an acute understanding of the types of media and rhetoric that are circulating on an endless feedback loop throughout the heartland. I hope to share my experiences and work with the seminar to create an informed critical assessment of the dominant ideologies being diffused through media outlets.

As an art history major, I am interested in ideas of representation and the legacy of art as a political tool, especially in the modern period when the works of the abstract expressionists were used to export American values abroad. More recently, advances in electronic technology have called attention to the economy of imagery and visual representation as a means to influence and affect national consciousness. As the speed of information through electronic media increases, disparate systems of meaning become inextricably linked. This is especially true in terms of the imagery that defines our understanding of both the international and domestic political, economic, and cultural climates. I am interested in ideas of representation in the mass media, and more specifically the actors, manufacturers, and transmitters of both raw and refined information. These individuals and groups of individuals, like the artists and collectives in the visual arts, have become not only generators but interpreters of meaning for an increasingly non-specialized public. I hope through this course to work to dissect and decode the information, rhetoric, and metaphors that have become literal in the visual.

The A&E ad for flight 93 appeared online, in print and on television in the days and weeks leading up to January 31st. I first encountered the advertising some months ago when reading about the uproar surrounding the making of the film and the dissent expressed by the families of the deceased. In a simplistic analysis of the subtext the ad is for a television movie that dramatizes the events of Flight 93. But if we are to read some abstract or metaphysical meaning into the placement of the advertisement and its proximity to the State of the Union—political, emotional and cultural inferences can be made.
The ad’s location in the New York Times, its supposed reader base, and its charged language suggest the existence of political undertones. These undertones are motivated by the immediate emotional associations a reader would make with the symbols of September 11. The iconography and linguistic metaphors of the terrorism of that day have been repeated in media to the point of auto-recognition and auto-emotive response.
The image of a plane, which dominates a large portion of the picture plane, barreling towards an open landscape (an unidentified, universal, common landscape), is a referent that stirs fear and grief at the memory of that event and the possibility of its recurrence in the future. This fear is compounded by the juxtaposition of the advertisement with an article on A6 in which the Al Qaeda deputy Ayman Al-Zawahari threatens attacks against the United States and calls President Bush a ‘butcher, ‘failure,’ and a ‘liar.’
In another lens, the advertisement works to reinforce the rhetoric of bravery by opposing the terrorism of the hijackers to the ‘bravery’ of the passengers and crew. The heroic acts of ordinary people to stop the fulfillment of acts of violence against America mirrors the President’s call in the State of the Union to continue to fight terrorism abroad and work to spread democracy with our nation’s brave soldiers.
These analyses however, assume the advertisement and the film itself has a political motivation. The subtext could be the goal of remembering as Peggy Noonan suggested in her February second opinions piece in the Wall Street Journal—remembering because it is “our duty.”

Prof: abbreviation for professor, earliest known use 1838 Yale Lit. Mag. Feb. 144 For Proffs and Tutors too, Who steer our big canoe, Prepare their lays.
Note: in its use as to inform someone so as to make them believe (such as convincing a professor you have the critical facultties to be successful in their senior seminar)
Earliest known use c1566 J. ALDAY tr. Boaystuau's Theat. World Rb, The whiche giveth us to understande that man is the verie chiefe worke of God. (etymology from OED)

Francesco Forin '06 / Entry Exam

I am a second-semester senior concentrating in Bioethics. Beyond that, I have a burgeoning interest in international politics and IR theory and hope, with some graduate study, to someday make a career of it.

More pointedly, I’m interested in examining the immense power popular media (e.g., TV, film, internet) have in influencing political outcomes; so much that the war of perception has become, for politicians, more relevant than the war on the ground. I’m also keen on exploring how new variations or forms of media (blogs, camera phones, Podcasts, and so on) change the cultural and political landscape. These technologies pose a challenge to the hegemony of news media conglomerates. But in diffusing the epistemic authority of traditional news outlets, do we run the risk of creating a world of independent, politically tailored media fiefdoms whereby no one hears opinions they don’t already agree with? (Are those who get their news exclusively from Bill O’Reilly or Jon Stewart leaning towards this already?) In short, I’m interested in whether more pluralistic media will help foster objectivity or merely become messengers of ideologically targeted content (I’m thinking Google ads here).

As for the NYT, I looked at the oil ad. The context of Bush’s State of the Union is crucial; for the oil giants, capturing a share of the Middle East’s twenty percent is a lucrative possibility. Moving away from foreign oil, however, represents a significant shift for W. (he whose family was lampooned in “Fahrenheit 9/11” for its close ties to Saudi Arabian oil) – and the talk about ethanol fuel, which is popular in South America but nonexistent here, is probably a little troubling. So to capitalize on the opportunity afforded in the State of the Union, the oil industry has to make a compelling case for why, in the face of uncertainty about energy, we ought to rely on domestic oil. In the ad, using plain, honest-sounding language, the industry presents its version of “the truth” about American oil – but attributing it instead to “Wall Street,” as opposed to “Main Street,” in order to disavow responsibility and grant a false air of objectivity. (NYT readers, by and large, are not the small-town Americans on “Main Street”; the comparison operates on this bias.) Also in the service of false objectivity are the data presented at the top of the ad; no one can argue with a bar graph, least of all one with data from an independent-sounding agency called the API (the American Petroleum Institute, of course). The industry reminds us that, in the face of uncertainty, we ought to trust facts and objective analysis, not the small-time opinions of “Main Street.”

It seems talent and attrition has eased my task: you all made the cut.

Onward,
JDD

1. My name is Afreen Akhter and I am a senior English literature concentrator, but my primary interests have grown to exist outside of this category. I have determined to devote my life to the space that exists in the overlap or juxtaposition of human rights advocacy and theatre, the latter of which I will later define specifically in relationship to my understanding of the term “media” (a concept which I have never studied formally). I have worked for human rights organizations such as the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, Human Rights Watch, and the Center for International Human Rights (CIHR). In recalling some of my work with CIHR, the name “Charles Graner” comes to mind. This case is a striking example in which photographic documents can sway a public to incite action against a government. Although Graner was only sentenced to 10 years of prison, and although his higher-ups received impunity, those horrific pictures are continually reused by human rights organizations worldwide to visually (aka more viscerally) remind people of these ongoing atrocities. I believe the correlation between theatre and “media” is overt if the term “media” is used in an abstract sense—as a specific kind of artistic technique or means of expression that seeks to communicate a particular idea. I recently acted in "Guantanamo," a show about real-life accounts of detainees and their families. By using art to express social realities such as this one, I find that both the artist and the audience are far more engaged and willing to become active about the matter at hand. Through the supple synthesis of my version of “media” and human rights advocacy, I believe (in all idealism) that art can have ability to influence, enlighten, and liberate on both a local and global level…and that’s why I want to take this course.

2. (to come on further clarification!)

Ironically, TODAY some new photos regarding the Abu Ghraib scandal emerged.

This source also includes footage of the torture:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4715540.stm

welcome to the seminar...

jdd