Alexander Heffner delivered an engaging Quello Center Lecture on the engagement of ‘millennials’ in public media, issues and discourse. You are welcome to view the lecture, delivered on 18 March 2015, by going to the video below.
Quello Lecture and Panel on ‘Millennials, Public Media and The Future of Civil Discourse’ by Alexander Heffner (NEW) from Quello Center on Vimeo.
Alexander is seeking, through his work on ‘Open Minds’, a way to foster a more ‘civic-minded journalism culture, non-adversarial broadcasting in the public interest, and critical exploration of prosocial ideas.’ His talk can be viewed here, along with responses from two colleagues at MSU follow his talk, Eric Freedman, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist at MSU, and Gary Reid, the Director of WKAR in East Lansing, Michigan. The responses and discussion challenge the concept of ‘millennials’, what is ‘newsworthy’ v ‘viral’ and what the key issues are in the future of public discourse – changing audiences, business models, the role of the journalist, and the quality of discourse. Optimists and pessimists about the future of public discourse can be found in the discussion.
Alexander is a graduate of Andover and Harvard, is host of The Open Mind on PBS Channel THIRTEEN/WNET and CUNY TV. Eric Freedman is the Knight Chair in environmental journalism and director of Capital News Service at MSU’s School of Journalism. Before joining the faculty full-time in 1996, Freedman was a reporter. Gary Reid is the Director of Broadcasting and General Manager of WDBM-FM, WKAR-AM/FM/TV. He is a University Distinguished Senior Specialist in the Department of Media and Information at MSU and an Associate Director of the Quello Center.
Alexander’s lecture is about 25 minutes, including my introduction, with two short responses, and discussion. We’d welcome any comments or feedback on this talk here on the Quello Center blog.
We have some great points made as well by Professor Steve Lacy about the history of research on some of these questions.