Kim Pearson

Civic Media Researcher

November 13, 2010
by professorkim
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What Would WEB Du Bois Tell Henry Jenkins and Soulja Boy?

As Henry Jenkins and other scholars have observed, contemporary remix culture has disrupted both hierarchies of taste and capitalist models of cultural production. However, less attention seems to have been paid to the degree to which these emergent models of cultural production reinforce oppressive stereotypes and destructive social norms. This essay muses upon efforts to create socially responsible media in the current environment. Continue reading

March 18, 2010
by professorkim
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Why is the state allowed to define sex for the purpose of assigning rights?

This question has been simmering in the back of my mind for a long time. As a result of covering stories related to LGBT rights, and particularly, debates over hate crimes (see the “small murders” section) and same-sex marriage, it occurred … Continue reading

February 2, 2010
by professorkim
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The Enlightenment’s Contradictory Legacy and the Evolution of American Journalism

The European Enlightenment fostered ideals that still animate democratic societies, but those ideals were freighted with received notions of white supremacy and patriarchy. This presentation traces the ways in which those ideas affected the development of the norms and practices … Continue reading

January 28, 2010
by professorkim
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The Black Press, Soldiers Without Swords

Here is my 2005 tribute to one of those pioneers, Dr. Edna McKenzie (who became a newspaper reporter about the time that that video below was created. Here is the transcript of her interview for the documentary, Black Press: Soldiers … Continue reading

January 28, 2010
by professorkim
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Freedom of the Press, part 1: Ideals and Ideas

These slides accompany an assigned reading of John Milton’s Aeropagitica for my Race, Gender and News class.  My goal is to demonstrate that the ideals underlying the libertarian model of the press contain embedded assumptions about human nature that ensured … Continue reading