Description:

‘The Media and the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention - Then and Now’ series will examine issues of objectivity and patriotism in a turbulent time:

How did demonstrators, city government officials, police and media perceive one another during the convention? How did their conflicts play out in media? What is applicable to today’s news environment?

Moderator

Donna Leff, Ph.D., professor, Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University; award-winning investigative reporter, Chicago Today, Chicago Tribune and Ypsilanti Press.

Panelists

David Farber, Ph.D., Roy A. Roberts Distinguished Professor, University of Kansas; author of several books including “Chicago ’68” and “The 60’s: From Memory to History.” Farber will address how the Convention tested the practice of “objective” journalism.

Bernardine Dohrn, activist, academic, author and children’s and women’s rights advocate; retired associate clinical professor at Northwestern University School of Law. A national leader of SDS and the Weather Underground, Dohrn will offer perspective on how Chicago fit into a dramatic year of protesters finding their courage. 

Frank Kusch, Ph. D., administrator, University of Saskatchewan and author of “Battleground Chicago: The Police and the 1968 Democratic Convention” and “All American Boys: Draft Dodgers in Canada from the Vietnam War.” Kusch will share the perspective of police who served in 1968 and how they felt toward both journalists and demonstrators.

Hank DeZutter, former education writer, Chicago Daily News; community organizer; co-founder, Chicago Journalism Review; founder of a community-based journalism training program that later became the Community Media Workshop. DeZutter will convey how reporting from the streets challenged journalistic business as usual.