Join us for "Media and January 6th"
CITAP is gathering the co-editors and 13 of the contributing scholars from the volume, “Media and January 6th", to dive into critical questions and discussions from the book. Don't miss out.
Media and January 6th
How should social scientists, media scholars, policymakers, journalists, and the public understand what happened on January 6th, 2021? How can we defend democracy and its institutions? What is the place of January 6th in America’s political and media history – and where do we go from here?
CITAP is gathering the co-editors and 13 of the contributing scholars to discuss these questions (and more) from their volume, “Media and January 6th”; co-edited by Khadijah Costley White, Daniel Kreiss, Shannon McGregor, and Rebekah Tromble, the book “brings together a diverse group of leading scholars to help us more clearly understand the relationship between media and the attempted coup.” Check out a quick except from the volume here:
“In ignoring or not acting on the provocations discussed in this volume, we risk not only irrelevance as academics but further democratic crises as a country. Moments of rupture, like that of the attempted coup on January 6th, bring not only cataclysm but also opportunity… This volume seeks to critically understand January 6th and the role of various media in fomenting and justifying the attempted coup and, with that foundation, to consider what might be done to prevent what will undoubtedly be future attempts to overturn free and fair elections. Our field— alongside mainstream discourses and histories of the United States— has thus far largely failed to take seriously America’s checkered democratic history and the willingness of whites and Christian social groups to use force to maintain their power. But this moment— and we do mean this moment, as threats to undermine democratic rights and processes continue in earnest— offers an opportunity for repair. Ignore it at democracy’s peril.”
Join us for a day of insightful discussions on Friday, April 12th as we delve into the events of January 6th, 2021, and explore crucial avenues for safeguarding democracy. The scholars and experts from diverse fields will unravel the layers of this pivotal moment in American history and shed light on the profound impact it has had on media, politics, and society.
Check out the schedule & panel details here:
10:00am-11:30am | Panel: Understanding January 6th
Moderator: Shannon McGregor; Panelists: Scott Althaus, Danielle Brown, Alice Marwick & Francesca Tripodi
Panel Description: How should social scientists, media scholars, policymakers, journalists, and the public understand what happened on January 6th, 2021? Researchers on this panel, all contributors to the Media and January 6th volume, discuss their work demonstrating that what happened on January 6th was an attempted coup grounded in the political interests of the outgoing President, his supporters, and members of the Republican Party – as well as the political coalition it represents. They analyze how media, communication, and rhetoric were central to laying the groundwork for January 6th as well as how the events on the day unfolded.
11:30am-1:00pm | Lunch
1:00pm-2:30pm | Panel: Researching Threats to Democracy
Moderator: Rebekah Tromble; Panelists: Yunkang Yang, Regina Lawrence, Jenny Stromer-Galley, Dave Karpf
Panel Description: Scholars on this panel, all contributors to the volume, demonstrate the urgency with which our research must change if we are to play a part in ensuring the health of our democracy. These scholars argue for research on how deep networks of domestic extremists – and the money, political institutions, and media environments that allow them to thrive – provide fertile soil for antidemocratic crises. And, they argue that we must understand partisan media as political organizations, the power of media representations about January 6th and its key actors, and the importance of consequences for those who violate democratic norms.
2:30pm-3:00pm | Break
3:00pm-4:30pm | Panel: Defending Democracy
Moderator: Khadijah Costley White; Panelists: Andrew Thompson, Meredith Clark, Sylvio Waisbord, Paul E. Johnson
Panel Description: On this panel, scholars discuss how we can defend democracy and its institutions. Panelists argue that this means crafting new stories about demographic change in the United States, journalists confronting the ways they uphold unequal power systems, understanding the dangers of anti-democratic populism, and checking the media power of anti-democratic movements. Only by understanding January 6th and how it was threat to America can we have a clear sense of how to protect our fragile democratic institutions.
5:30pm-7:00pm | Closing Conversation: Media, January 6th, and American History
Panelists: Daniel Kreiss, Tressie McMillan Cottom, Dannagal Young
Panel Description: In this closing conversation, scholars reflect on the place of January 6th in America’s political and media history – and where we go from here. They connect January 6th to similar moments across American history, including violent assaults on the American democracy during the Reconstruction Era. And, they discuss the many changes in both politics and media technologies that have made contestations in our political discourse – and on our streets – unique to our own time. This panel will end with a discussion of where we go from here as a nation and society to restore public life, protect American democracy, and rebuild our media and political institutions.
7:00pm-8:30pm | Reception
Register to attend in-person or online! The event will run from 10am to 8:30pm for in-person attendees and from 10am to 7pm for virtual attendees.
UNC students are eligible to receive CLE credit for each panel. View CITAP’s HeelLife page here to RSVP!
Publications and appearances
Tressie McMilllan Cottom spoke at the Kenan-Flagler Business School yesterday, March 4th, in a Q&A session focused on women in business, people as brands, and the failure of discourse across the USA. Tressie answered a question about how women should be thinking about this moment in history and their place in it, where she said:
“I’m very clear about the fact that we have historical antecedents of racism, classism, and sexism, but in this new reactionary moment— leveraging those with exponential efficiency and speed made possible by technological affordances in a political moment where people are willing to exploit them for maximum extraction— that brunt is going to be disproportionately borne by [all] women. A categorical line has been drawn about trying to claw back women's participation in the labor market and in public life, and the erosion of that through the mechanisms by which we get to participate: our educational participation, bodily autonomy, deciding how we will mate, marry, and reproduce, deciding where and how we will live independently, out to vote, all of that up for debate. It is a very serious political moment.”
Tressie also appeared on “The Amendment” podcast on February 21st where she discussed why we should be paying attention to the South this election year. Check out the podcast and episode here!
Coming Soon
March
March 20th @ 12pm in the Freedom Forum conference Center: UNC Sociology and CITAP are co-hosting speaker, Forrest Stuart. Lunch will be provided!
April
April 12th in the Freedom Forum Conference Center: CITAP will be hosting an event in celebration and reflection of the launch of the book “Media and January 6th” Get more info and RSVP here!