September 19, 2006

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - On Wednesday September 13, Dr. Richard Campbell from Miami University addressed students on “Why Media Literacy and Journalism are Central to the Liberal Arts.”  This colloquium, sponsored by the Communication and English departments, was held in the Barbara Deer Kuss Science Building’s Bailey Auditorium.  The colloquium was organized in order to inaugurate Wittenberg’s new Journalism minor.

“The Communication field is confusing,” the Dayton-native began, “many other fields of study had the belief that Communication wasn’t part of the liberal arts.”  Campbell also described the barrier of how we as a society define culture as a hierarchy, and helped the audience differentiate between high and low culture.

He referenced authors such as Lawrence Levine, Allan Bloom, and Neil Postman in order for his audience to understand the critical process for examining texts.  He ended by helping his audience understand how to make sense of corporate institutions within culture and society and the impact it has on certain texts, using the example of the song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.”

Many students showed satisfaction towards the overall colloquium.  Jon Francis gave one perspective.  “I thought he was great.  He was interesting and made the boring stuff less boring by comparing it to Harry Potter and the Munsters and things like that.”  He adds, “He was also really funny.”  This student felt that the topics were explained well and he was given a better understanding of journalism in a liberal arts perspective.

Megan Jackson, a senior Communication major agreed.  “He reviewed many of the concepts we already learned earlier, but put them into a context different than we previously encountered.”  She continued, “Most of the time we learn things in classes we never really need or see again but Campbell incorporated them into something we all can relate to.”  Overall, most agree that Campbell was successful at ushering in the new Journalism major.