Obama pix in Alaska Democrat's ezine?

Reading up on Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's resignation from Trinity United Church in Chicago, I noticed a picture of Uncle Sam in The Alaska Report that looked a little different ... yet somehow familiar.

Take a look for yourself! See if it doesn't look like Obama.

The Alaska Report, an online magazine available at http://alaskareport.com/index.htm is published in Palmer, a town in the Mat-Su valley just north of Anchorage. It covers Alaska news, especially fisheries, and tracks the "Corrupt Bastards Club," the ongoing fraud investigations of U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens and other Alaska wildlife from a gleefully unabashed Democrat persepctive.

Central Illinois PRSA blog

Useful link: The central Illinois chapter of the Public Relations Society of America has a blog with links and promotional material about PRSA. Liz Kerns, who teaches public relations at Benedictine, is webmaster. (logmaster?) Good resource for students. Or anyone else who wants to keep up with the state of public relations in downstate Illinois.

I'll just post Liz' Who is PRSA Central Illinois? blurb in its entirety.

Chartered in 1979, the Central Illinois Chapter brings together people who are involved in public relations through professional development and advances the profession through public education, service and high standards of conduct.

The Central Illinois Chapter is part of the Public Relations Society of America, the world's largest organization for public relations professionals.

PRSA represents a great value to its members who represent business and industry, counseling firms, government, associations, hospitals and other professional services. PRSA stands behind its new code of ethics, which was approved at the Fall World Congress in Chicago in October 2000.

We have developed strong ties with PRSSA chapters in Bloomington-Normal, Charleston, Peoria and Macomb which depend on us for professional guidance and upon which we depend for fresh new ideas and youthful vigor. Illinois State University, Eastern Illinois University, Western Illinois University and Bradley University maintain active student chapters which contribute to the strength of our region and other universities throughout the region offer students strong PR education. Regardless of a student's affiliation with PRSSA, we welcome all communication students to our meetings from throughout the region. Other universities who have had students participate in our PRSA meetings but without a PRSSA chapter include Millikin University, Springfield College in Illinois/Benedictine University, Eureka College, and Illinois College.

Please look through our web site to learn more about the Central Illinois Chapter and all that we have to offer.

Marketplace of ideas in Post-Dispatch column

One of the better discussion of the marketplace of ideas I've seen lately doesn't even use the term "marketplace of ideas." It's in today's column by Bill McClellan in The St. Louis Post-Dispatch on anti-feminist firebrand Phyllis Schafly, who is about to get an honorary degree from Washington University at this year's commencement. Students and faculty are outraged at what they see as the school's honoring her "polarizing, anti-intellectual positions."

McClellan made it clear he doesn't agree with Shafly very often. But he doesn't agree with the outraged students and faculty, either.

"As a latte-sipping, tree-hugging, peace sign-flashing, gay rights-supporting liberal, I just hate it when my comrades play to stereotype," he said. "You know the stereotype. Conservatives are mean. Liberals are whiny. And right now a very audible whine is emanating from the campus of Washington University."

Schafly, 83, is an alum, and a highly successful one at that, so honoring her makes sense. "I think she honors the university by accepting an honorary degree," McClellan added. He explained:

That is not to suggest I approve of her ideas. I disagree with most of them. Nor do I like the way she expresses herself. She, too, sometimes plays to stereotype. She can be mean. She can get down in the mud. But like it or not, that is the way of things in the Great Debate that defines this country. Voices rise and tempers flare, but in the end, the ideas rise or fall on their own.

Some of the loudest criticism for awarding Schlafly an honorary degree is coming from the law school. Fourteen members of the law school faculty signed a letter to the chancellor: "We are fully committed to the principle of free speech, and we believe the University should encourage a discussion of diverse viewpoints. Commencement, however, is first and foremost a time of celebration of the intellectual accomplishments of our students. It is, we believe, a disservice to those whom we honor to inject into the proceedings a person who has devoted her life to staking out and promoting polarizing, anti-intellectual positions."

On most ideological issues, I'd be aligned with those professors, staking out a position somewhere left of center. But I think they're missing the point on this issue. The real disservice to the students would be to act like the university sanctions one set of ideas over another. Students should be exposed to all sorts of ideas — even polarizing, anti-intellectual ones. If the education has taken hold at all, the students will reject those ideas.

Tongue planted firmly in his cheek, McClellan concluded by quoting the "Great Helmsman" (Mao Zedong), "Let a thousand flowers bloom!" He added, "Personally, I raise my vanilla-flavored, low-fat, no-foam latte to Schlafly. She is a remarkable woman and a splendid opponent."

Work(s) Cited
McClellan, Bill. "Thought you'd never hear me praise Phyllis Schlafly?" St. Louis Post-Dispatch 14 May 2008. 14 May 2008. .

Communications 317: Media Law

Benedictine University at Springfield

Spring Semester 2008

"So as grave and learned men may doubt, without any imputation to them; for the most learned doubteth most, and the more ignorant for the most part are the more bold and peremptory." -- Sir Edward Coke, Institutes of the Lawes of England (1628) Sect 338a.
Final Exam – May 8, 2008

FINAL EXAM -- May 8, 2008

Below are one 50-point essay question and two 25-point short essay questions. Please write at least four pages (1,000 words) on the 50-point essay and two pages (500 words) on each of the 25-point essays. Due at the regularly scheduled time for our exam, 1:30 p.m., Thursday, May 8.

1. Essay (50 points). In his dissenting opinion in Abrams v. U.S. (1919), Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. defined the “marketplace of ideas” under the First Amendment as a realization that “the ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas ... [and] the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market, and that truth is the only ground upon which their wishes safely can be carried out.” guarantees a free market of ideas. What is the ethical responsibility to the marketplace of: (a) political candidates; (b) the news media; and (c) professional advocates working for campaigns. How well, in your opinion, have this year’s presidential primary elections functioned as a marketplace of ideas? Do professionals, both working for the media and in the campaigns, have a greater ethical burden under the respective codes of ethics for journalists and public relations people than the candidates? Be specific!

2a. Self-reflective essay (25 points). What do you consider the most important thing you have you learned in COMM 317 that you didn’t know before? Why do you say it is the most important? Be specific in your discussion of how it might fit into your career plans, or your plans for further study. Consider it in the context of what you knew at the beginning of the course and what you know now. In grading this essay, I will evaluate the relevance of your discussion to the main goals and objectives of the course; the specific detail you cite to support or illustrate your points; and the specific connections you make.

2b. Short essay (25 points). As the newly appointed travel editor for The Prairie Clarion in Clarey’s Prairie, Ill., you receive the offer of an all-expenses-paid weekend visit to Anthracite Acres, a tourist resort built on top of a reclaimed strip mine in beautiful Hogscour, W.Va. Ever mindful of the SPJ Code of Ethics, you’re a little nervous about conflicts of interest, but the PR guy for the resort says you’re free to write anything you want about your visit, even if you discover the mountaintop was improperly reclaimed. After deadline, you are sharing a pitcher of the beverage of your choice with Aristotle, Jeremy Bentham and Immanuel Kant (hey, this is a hypothetical case). What does the Code of Ethics say about situations like this? What would Aristotle, Kant and Bentham say? How would they explain their reasoning? What principles would they cite, and why?

COMM 387: Literature and Journalism

Benedictine University at Springfield

Spring Semester 2008

FINAL EXAM – Monday, May 5, 2008

Please answer all three questions below. While I will not grade on the length of your answers, you should write at least two to three pages on the 50-point question and a page to a page and a half on each of the 25-point questions. Your exam paper is due at the regularly scheduled time for our class, at 1:30 p.m., Monday, May 5.

1. Essay (50 points). In 2002 John Carroll, then editor of The Los Angeles Times and a member of the Pulitizer Prize selection board, said all 21 of that year’s winners shared “a moral vision … an ardently held view of what constitutes right in this world and what constitutes wrong.” In much the same vein, BBC news presenter Fergal Keane in 2005 said the best reporters “had in common an ability to use words in a manner that brought the listener into the picture, and they were engaged, not as partisans, but with a clear sense of astonishment at the wrongs they were witnessing.” Evaluate Ernest Hemingway, Tom Wolfe and one other journalist of your choice in terms of his/her ability to (a) use language that puts readers on the scene, and (b) express a moral vision that aims to right, or at least expose, the wrongs of society. How important, in your opinion (backed up, of course, by evidence), is that moral vision to a journalist’s overall quality?

2a. Self-reflective essay (25 points). What have you learned in Communications 387 that surprised you the most? How, specifically, did it surprise you? What was your overall impression of the journalistic writing -- as writing -- before you took the course? How has that changed as a result of your reading, class discussion and research for the course? Consider it in the context of what you knew at the beginning of the semester and what you know now. In grading this essay, I will evaluate the relevance of your discussion to the main goals and objectives of the course; the detail you cite to support or illustrate your points; and the connections you make. Be specific.

2b. Short essay (25 points). According to conservative opinion writer P.J. O’Rourke, “Satire is technically comic writing with a moral point of view, and I think that that it is hard to do because not many people have the confidence in their moral point of view anymore.” Considering the satire on the newspaper business in the movie “His Girl Friday” and Carl Hiaasen’s novel “Lucky You,” do you find a clearly expressed moral point of view expressed in the satire? Does one stand out more than the other? What is the point of view regarding the newspaper business in each? Do you find one better than the other? If so, does your enjoyment have anything to do with moral point(s) or view, or is it just based on the comedy?

COMM 317: Making the marketplace work

Evening up the balance, giving credit to the media where credit is due ...

After shooting rockets at the media Tuesday for superficial "horserace" coverage of this year's presidential campaigns, I went home and read Newsweek. On the last page was something that made me stop and think a little harder about what I'd been saying.

It was a set of questions for Democratic front-runner Barack Obama in George Will's opinion column. They were solid, substantive, detailed questions ... althought they did have a partisan edge to them. Fair sample: The last two questions:

• You denounce President Bush for arrogance toward other nations. Yet you vow to use a metaphorical "hammer" to force revisions of trade agreements unless certain weaker nations adjust their labor, environmental and other domestic policies to suit you. Can you define cognitive dissonance?

• You want "to reduce money in politics." In February and March you raised $95 million. See prior question.

But coming next, questions for John McCain.

Now George Will is a partisan Republican who delights in showing off his vocabulary. Unless he's writing about the Chicago Cubs (he grew up in Illinois, and he's a diehard fan), his column usually gives me heartburn. I don't even think his promise to take on Republican nominee-to-be McCain shows much objectivity -- McCain isn't conservative enough for him. Sometimes I think Will is the last of the 18th-century Whigs, born 200 years too late. But he does write about issues. And he's an important voice for the old-line right wing. Since he's writing an opinion column, he's allowed to do that. In fact, the system wouldn't work if guys like that didn't do that.

So ... score one for the marketplace of ideas. George Will is out there selling his product.

On the liberal or progressive side of the political spectrum, one of my favorite columnists is E.J. Dionne Jr., who writes for The Washington Post and Commonweal (he's a liberal Catholic). On Tuesday, his column in The Post lamented the trivial tone of recent election coverage. Dionne said:

Before the battle for Pennsylvania, the 2008 presidential contest looked as big as elections get. The country's deep disillusionment with Bush, akin to the disillusionment with Jimmy Carter in 1980, portends a wish by voters to move in a different direction, albeit one quite unlike the path chosen 28 years ago. The issues discussed in debates and on the stump were the important ones: an Iraq war in which victory is elusive, an economy falling into disarray, a health-care system failing employees and employers alike.

No one benefited more than Barack Obama from this sense of historic moment. Change, not experience, was the order of the day. Sweep, not a mastery of detail, was the virtue most valued in campaign oratory. A clean break with the past, not merely a return to better days, was the promise most prized.

Then something happened. Specifically, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. And he keeps happening ...

Dionne's premise, which is very partisan, is that a "big" election oriented to big ideas will help the Democrats this year. He concluded:

Contrary to those who are cynical about democracy, voters themselves are rarely manipulated into thinking that big elections are actually small ones. But the candidates and the media, with some help from Jeremiah Wright, are doing all they can to run this election through an Incredible Shrinking Machine. Obama and Clinton should not make it harder for Americans to have the election they want.

Agree with him or disagree with him, Dionne is out there in the marketplace of ideas. In fact, it may be the only free market he really approves of!

There's no lack of substantive stories in the papers, either. They don't all make the front page, but they're there. I just looked at the Google news page, and it displayed stories on an airstrike in Somalia, a car bombing in Baghdad, the disputed election in Zimbabwe, developments in Pakistan, Exxon profits and, yes, the election (two headlines tell that story: "Obama says public tired of hearing about his former pastor" and "[Hillary] Clinton Talks to Fox TV about Obama and Wright"). If we have time left after reading the stories on incest in Austria, "American Idol" and a TV actress who posed nude for a magazine spread, there are plenty of what Dionne would call "big" stories to choose among.

One particularly courageous effort by a newspaper, and one that takes maximum advantage of "new" media, is a forum on race and racial attitudes moderated by columnist Dawn Turner Trice of The Chicago Tribune. When Obama delivered his March 18 speech on Rev. Rice and race, Trice, who is black, wrote:

Barack Obama'srecent speech about race touched on a number of important themes: The fact that in America there is still so much about race simmering below the surface; that we have for years chosen to go into our respective corners rather than really deal with what lies beneath; and the fear that where race and opportunity intersect, the tide will lift one group, but only at the expense of another.

Over the last several months, Obama's campaign has revealed a side of the race picture I never thought I'd see during my lifetime. (I'm 42.) A man of color with a real shot at becoming the president of the United States? This still blows me away. Some folks younger than 35 seem to be less shocked by this. That in itself is interesting.

So I wonder: Where exactly are we with race relations in America? Is it possible that what we see of racial matters highlighted in the media is a distorted picture?

Let's start a discussion. ...

That forum is called "Exploring Race." It's still running on The Trib's website, and it's well worth checking out.