In our November Lunchtime Lecture, Dr. Stephen Reese will reflect on the issues raised by his recent book by the same title. As polarized factions in society pull apart from economic dislocation, tribalism, and fear, and as strident attacks on the press make its survival more precarious, the need for an institutionally organized forum in civic life has become increasingly important. Populist challenges amplified by a counter-institutional media system have contributed to the long-term decline in journalistic authority, exploiting a post-truth mentality that strikes at its very core.
Stephen D. Reese has been on the University of Texas at Austin faculty since 1982, where he is now the Jesse H. Jones Professor of Journalism. His teaching has included a general introduction: “Critical issues in journalism,” research-oriented graduate seminars, a freshman campus-wide Signature Course: “Understanding 9/11,” and a summer course: Global Media Literacy. He has been Director of the School of Journalism and the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the Moody College of Communication.
His research focuses on questions relating to press performance, including the sociology of news, media framing of public issues, and the globalization of journalism. Along with some 50 articles and book chapters, Reese is co-author with Pamela Shoemaker of Mediating the Message in the 21st Century: A Media Sociology Perspective (Routledge, 2014), a follow-up volume to its predecessor, named by Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly (JMCQ)as one of the "significant journalism and communication books" of the 20th century. His edited volume, Framing Public Life: Perspectives on Media and our Understanding of the Social World (Erlbaum, 2001), has been widely cited, and his most recent edited volume (with Wenhong Chen) is Networked China: Global Dynamics of Digital Media and Civic Engagement (Routledge). He has served as book review and associate editor for JMCQ, and on its editorial board and 14 others.