Network News and the Polarizing of America: Lessons from 1968

Heather Hendershot is a professor of film and media at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, researching TV news, conservative media, political movements and American film and television history. She is the author of five books, including “When the News Broke: Chicago 1968 and the Polarizing of America” and has appeared in the Nation, Politico, The Conversation and The Washington Post.

“The whole world is watching!” cried protestors at the 1968 Democratic National Convention as Chicago police beat them in the streets. In conversation with Professor Charisse L’Pree, Hendershot will revisit TV coverage of not only that famous event but of the Democratic convention itself. She’ll explain the importance of this pivotal moment in American political history and show how it continues to impact news media today, as journalists wrestle with issues of objective coverage, bias and trust in TV news.

Hendershot emphasizes the interplay between creative, political and regulatory concerns; how those concerns affect what we see on the screen (big or little); and the ways that TV and film writers, directors and producers have attempted innovation while working within an industry that demands novelty and fears new approaches to character and narrative.

She is the author of “Open to Debate: How William F. Buckley Put Liberal America on the Firing Line; What’s Fair on the Air?”; “Cold War Right-Wing Broadcasting and the Public Interest”; “Shaking the World for Jesus: Media and Conservative Evangelicals”; and “Saturday Morning Censors: Television Regulation before the V-Chip.” She is also the editor of “Nickelodeon Nation: The History, Politics, and Economics of America’s Only TV Channel for Kids.”

For more information, or if you require accommodations, please contact Charisse L’Pree Corsbie-Massay at clcorsbi@syr.edu.