West Virginia University - News and Information Services
WVU celebrating Journalism Week with debate, Festival of Ideas panel discussion on digital media
March 31-April 4
The 2008 presidential election is historic in more ways than one. More people than ever are turning to new media – blogs, YouTube, social networking sites – to learn about the candidates, engage in dialogue and directly participate in the campaigns.
The West Virginia University Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism will examine the impact of new media on this year’s election and the political process during “Journalism Week 2008: New Media. New Democracy,” March 31-April 4.
The School of Journalism sought input from its student organizations to help plan and design activities, which include student competitions with a $250 grand prize each, guest lectures and two public events.
“Student Voices” will be a campus debate hosted by the Public Relations Student Society of America, with moderators from WVU’s chapter of Society of Professional Journalists and panelists from the Young Democrats and College Republicans. The debate – set for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 1, in 202 Brooks Hall – is open to all WVU students and the general public.
The debate will present a series of questions around such issues as the war in Iraq, gas prices, health care and more. Panelists will provide answers based on the position their respective candidates have taken on these issues, and members of the audience will have the chance to ask additional questions following the debate.
The school will host another public event in conjunction with WVU’s Festival of Ideas. “Digital Media and the 2008 Presidential Election” will feature a panel of national reporters, bloggers and new media producers discussing the impact of digital media on the 2008 presidential election. The free event will be at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 3, in the Mountainlair ballrooms.
The panelists are as follows:
- Ana Marie Cox is the Washington editor of Time.com, where she coordinates political coverage and hosts the Web site’s political blog, “Swampland.” She is also founding editor of the blog, “Wonkette.”
- Philip de Vellis is senior associate and vice president of new media at Murphy Putnam Media and the creator of the “Vote Different” ad, which blended Apple’s “1984” spot with footage from Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign Web site.
- Ross Douthat is a senior editor at The Atlantic Monthly and a blogger for TheAtlantic.com. He is the co-author, with Reihan Salam, of “Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream,” to be published this June.
- Terence Samuel is deputy editor of TheRoot.com, an online magazine aimed at black readers published by The Washington Post, and former director of news programming at AOL Black Voices.
- Abbi Tatton is an Internet reporter for CNN, covering blogs, Web video and other new media for “The Situation Room.” She has also covered the emergence of blogs and Web video as a force in national political campaigns.
- Michael Tomasky (moderator): Tomasky is the editor of GuardianAmerica.com, the U.S.-based Web site of The Guardian newspaper of England, which covers American politics and culture, as well as international news.
- Matthew Yglesias is an associate editor of The Atlantic Monthly. He writes a blog for TheAtlantic.com and is a regular on BloggingHeads.tv. He was a staff writer at The American Prospect and an associate editor at TPM Media.
A complete schedule of Journalism Week 2008 events and full-length panelist biographies are available online at http://JWeek08.journalism.wvu.edu.
The Festival of Ideas is supported in part by the David C. Hardesty Jr. Festival of Ideas Endowment, which brings preeminent thinkers and scholars to campus. For other festival speakers, go to http://www.events.wvu.edu/foi/.
School of Journalism
Office: (304) 293-3505, ext. 5403