Thought from www.heknowswords.blogspot.com

For those who don't know, I am currently approaching my final month of a four year BA in Media, Information, and Technoculture at the University of Western Ontario. A young but incredibly diverse degree in cultural and media theory which gives its students critical and broad knowledge of how media is consumed in the world, what the pros, the cons, and the hopes for the future are in the media industries today. The program has developed the person who is writting this for you today, and I credit the program for who I have become and for giving me the opportunity to meet the most intelligent and promising minds this country has to offer in terms of media literate citizens who can make an active contribution and change to how the world works in the age of information and spectacle.As I approach my final exams a recent debate has been stirred on the administrative level of my faculty to which I have been devoted to for four years.

To best sum up the current issue I will quote a letter by Professor Nick Dyer Witherford from www.freemit.blogspot.com which is a blog created by students who are concerned over the following issue. Be aware that all the details of the deal are not included in the below quote, but I trust Nick to have pretty much summed up what the CanWest FIMS deal will be:

"You recently informed some of us that discussions are underway to institute a FIMS CanWest Fellowship. As I understand it, this endowment would be for approximately $1 million, funding the annual appointment for one semester of a visiting Fellow who would lecture and research on media, journalism or cultural studies; there would be ‘no strings attached’ to the Fellow’s research agenda; and the endowment would provide additional moneys for scholarships."

Now, the major critique that has been driven out of this potential business deal is that by selling a seat on our administrative board we are compromising the integrity of what our program has founded its roots upon, which is the critical awareness of the concentration of media ownership, the inherent bias in media reporting, and a degree which prides itself on producing aware students who may in the future change how media is consumed. By teaming up with one of Canada's most notorious media conglomerates and an overall shady media entity that tries to portray objectivity in its very subjective programming and reporting we are basically slapping the face of our program's mandate and furthering the gap between where the theory we are taught conflicts with the reality of the world.
It should be noted that Rogers and Bell Communications already do have endowments into our programs.

Though I completely agree that the selling of our program's power seats to major media conglomerates is endagering the integrity of that which we as students are being taught, I would like to add this insight into the debate in defense of the merger, solely with respect to the strength of the minds that I have come to know of the students in this program.If this deal were to go down, in my eyes this would provide an ideal democratic public sphere for the education of media industries at Western. In one corner we would have the current professor's who have produced in my mind an aware and active citizen whom wants to and believes can effect change as to how information is consumed by the public, if the opportunity to do so arises in my future. Now if today, I were to sit in a CanWest taught class, I would not sit there as a amoeba soaking in the schlock that a conglomerate tries to feed me as the truth (that's what college is for). I would sit there, listen, and then raise my hand and my concerns for that which I am being taught.

For instance, if I was being taught objective journalism writting by CanWest, I would raise my hand and say :" Excuse me sir or madame, but isn't it improper to try and write objectively when inherent subjective opinions will always naturally bleed through any language I try and robotically spew out? Wouldn't it be better for me to introduce an article with my name and opinion, followed by the facts which have led me to my beliefs so that my readers could derive their own opinion from my work, and possibly write me back engaging them in the discursive opportunities the public sphere allows?" (and then I would smile, get an F, and probably not be in MIT anymore cause if I fail a half course, I get the boot! but whatever.)My point here is that just because CanWest wants to jump aboard the Rogers and Bell train, (which has proven Ryerson's programs very beneficial in that their students resources are top notch) does not mean that I am going to shift my beliefs as to how the mediated world operates and how it needs to be changed.

My only critique to the critics of this proposed deal is that, just because it is selling out the values that our program is based upon, moreso it is providing a realist opportunity for change. Let me paint you a picture:

Deal goes down, CanWest head hunts a mind that has been taught by the active network of professors that have driven the way in which I think, which is to be critical of all messages, practices, and understand that messages we consume are not the truth but merely taglines looking to be sold to the public. That headhunted mind takes his critical knowledge into CanWest and works his way to a highlevel position within the company. That MIT student thanks to the CanWest head hunting creates a new privately funded public broadcasting station because he or she was able to pitch it to the big wigs as a profitable and yet socially beneficial venture. Canada's public sphere grows, CanWest sees the ere to their ways, and the world lives happily ever after.Yes the above was a fairy tale, but so is the critique that Fox News and Macdonald's are the next to invest in the program (but thats more of a brother's Grimm fairy tale than mine was).

So to conclude this creator of a very tiny scroll bar square (meaning really long post), all I want to ad is that if this deal goes down, FIMS gets a million bucks, please don't any of the critics think that this will somehow shift the mindset of the students who are graduating from this program. Professors like Nick Dyer-Witherford have taught me too much to be weened away by the flashy lights and fancy spliced names like CanWest Global. If anything I see this potential deal has an opportunity for the mold to be broken, our faces to be introduced to the power structures of the world, and the potential beginning of an MIT program with national awareness and avenues for which our next generation new age, hippy minds to get out there and make a difference

.endrant.thankyou.