June 2003
Program Notes
 |
First Week (June 7 through June 13)
Virginia Wines
|
 |
In traveling across Virginia, you'd be hard pressed not to encounter
a regional vineyard somewhere along the way. Entire sections at
wine stores offer Virginia wines, many of which have won national
awards. Bruce Zoecklin (VT) is the state enologist and he
says Virginia's vineyards are thriving in part because they've mastered
the "come hither" factor. Also featured: Can it be that
wine not only tastes great and is pleasurable, but is actually good
for us? Roy Williams (ODU), who has been called the "Einstein
of the Vine", investigates the possibility that wine may inhibit
the onset of certain cancers.
| |
Second Week (June 14 through June 20)
Embedded Warrior Journalists
|
|
Journalists armed with videophones and satellite links spent the
second Gulf War alongside U.S. soldiers, sending back real-time
accounts of combat. The Pentagon opened up the embedded journalist
program because news organizations complained that coverage of the
1991 Gulf War was limited to media briefings and carefully screened
video footage. Communications professor Gary Edgerton (ODU) says
there was more live footage of the first two days of the recent
war then in all of Operation Desert Storm, but that doesn't mean
television viewers got a complete picture. Also featured: Reflections
from Richmond Times-Dispatch reporter Rex Bowman, who spent
the war embedded with the Marines 1st Battalion, 4th Regiment (Charlie
Company).
|
Third Week (June 21 through June 27)
Overcoming Appalachian Stereotypes
|
|
The announcement that CBS plans to create a new reality show called
"The Real Beverly Hillbillies" has already generated objections
that it would foster more disparaging views of the Appalachian Mountain
culture. The show would follow an Appalachian family as they adjust
to life as Hollywood millionaires. English professor Parks Lanier
(RU) is tired of Appalachian stereotypes and says some of this
country's richest literature comes from the mountains. Phil Leonard
(Central Virginia Community College) takes his students on an
annual bus tour of Appalachian regions. Also featured: Amy Clark
(UVA-Wise) studies how people from Appalachian communities feel
about their dialect. She says many try to change their speech when
they move out of the area, hiding their true origin.
The way in which Americans get their news has changed over the
past several decades. Newspapers used to be king, but now over 70
percent of us get our news from television. Frank Sesno (GMU)
was with CNN as it grew from a small cable outfit to a worldwide
news operation. Now working on PBS documentaries, Sesno examines
the effects of corporate domination of America's news organizations.
Also featured: How will the news industry change, now that the Federal
Communications Commission has loosened media ownership limits? Journalism
instructor Judy Turk (VCU) says media convergence might enhance
the quality of news, while communications professor Matt McAllister
(VT) says there are profoundly anti-democratic possibilities.
|
