Members of the community are invited to the Peabody-Smithgall Lecture Wednesday.
NPR’s television critic and chair of the Board of Jurors for the Peabody Awards, Eric Deggans, will deliver the lecture, which is part of UGA’s Signature Lecture series, Wednesday, April 3. Deggans said the talk is based on the book he wrote, titled Race-Baiter.”
“I’ll take a little bit about how media uses values and imagery to communicate feelings to the audience even when you don’t realize it,” according to Deggins. “When you’re presented with an image in media, there are dozens of cues embedded in that image that are intended to make you feel a certain way about what you’re seeing.”
He says many people believe they have some awareness of how media uses imagery, but they are still susceptible to its influence.
“But I still don’t think people pay enough attention to how that works. How calculated every image is that you’re presented with.”
Jeffery Jones is executive director of the Peabody’s. He says the speech will provide those attending with an awareness of media strategies.
“Eric does not in his writing or in his television appearances, want to try to chastise people, but really it’s media literacy. It’s opening our eyes to see stuff that we may not see because it’s become so normalized,” Jones said.
He feels the lecture will provide those attending a method of making the discussion of often thorny topics like race, less difficult.
“And in that process, it’s easier if we’re very open to talk about race, irrespective of your race.”
The lecture is free and open to the public. It takes place Wednesday, April 3 at 4 p.m. in the UGA chapel.
