Dr. Wendy Wyatt, Communication and Journalism Department, will speak on “Blame Narratives and the News: An Ethical Analysis” on Thursday, April 14. The event will be held from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in Room 126, John R. Roach Center for the Liberal Arts.
Dr. Wendy Wyatt
Are people living in a culture of blame? Some writers at The Economist magazine think so. In fact a 2008 column went so far as to claim that Western cultures have become “dominated and warped by blame.” When it came to assigning responsibility, The Economist called out the news media directly for its role in fueling the fires.
As a media ethicist interested in issues of journalism and society, this column did more than catch Wyatt’s attention; it triggered a project. During this talk, she will consider the role that blame ought to play in society. She will interrogate the claim that journalism is helping create a culture of blame and offer recommendations for how the news media can convey blame in more ethically justifiable ways.
Free and open to the public, this event is sponsored by the American Culture and Difference Program, College of Arts and Sciences.
