Media Count in Civic Discourse
Charles C. Self
Media count in discourse in the 21st century. The idea of media counts, too.
That’s why 227 International, LLC, and my blog, 227media.net/blog (Reading Media::Meaning(s), invite you to join me as we explore media in all its forms. We will examine how media, news and journalism become discourse and meanings in the 21st century.
My focus on media began when I started a newspaper in junior high school. It became a career in journalism. I worked for a wire service, for several newspapers and in public relations.
I was fascinated with how media experience became crucial to the way people understand their world. Meaning and memory meld in individual acts and the reported acts of others.
This insight led me to graduate study of journalism and mass communication. My research earned me a Ph.D. and I began to teach journalism. I started a lifetime of learning from journalists, scholars, students, citizens and especially media. I became a dean, department head, and director at three major journalism schools.
My search led to projects in more than a dozen countries. It led to intense work with the top journalists and educators around the world. I became a president or officer of several national and international media and academic organizations.
The fascination has only deepened over the years. New technologies, changing business models, the internationalization of news, entertainment, and persuasion industries have changed media organizations, media practices, and social analysis.
But underlying all of it is a core truth: human thought is shaped by discourse. In the 21st century much of that discourse is mediated.
227 International, LLC, advises and trains such discourse. My blog, 227media.net, Reading Media::Meaning(s), explores it. My Twitter forum, #cself, tracks it. I urge you to join our discourse about the fascinating world of media meanings.
After all reading media counts in discourse.
–Charles