Panel to discuss internet and other media

The Chautauqua League of Women Voters is sponsoring a panel discussion on the media's use of the Internet for presenting news and engaging new audiences. "Blogs, Wikis, and Newsfeeds: The Internet and Other Media," will be held Monday, April 16, from 2:30 to 4 p.m. in the SUNY Fredonia Williams Center, Room S104. The program is free, open to all, and includes dessert.

Regional and national perspectives will be offered by panelists Dr. Carol Cartwright, board member of National Public Radio and former president of Kent State University; Ben Kirst, who oversees., "Your Hub at Buffalo.Com," the new interactive website of the Buffalo News; Jim Rush, editor of the weekly newspaper, Westfield Republican; and Jessica Scheuer, web producer at the Congressional Quarterly.  Moderator will be Ann Carden, public relations professor in the SUNY Fredonia Department of Communication. 

"Since the emergence of the Internet, we have many more ways to access news and information, and traditional media—television, newspaper, and radio—have responded," Virginia Horvath, member of the Chautauqua League of Women Voters, said. "Debates rage over the nature, effects, and possibilities of the Internet to influence politics and elections. Some claim that the Internet is producing a group of fragmented communities where Internet content is often reduced to the subscribers' beliefs," she added.

The panelists will look at some examples of the ways information is now conveyed and discussed online, and examine whether continued growth of the Internet as a tool for organizing novel forms of information and social interaction which would benefit society or change the structure of contemporary cultural politics.

Members of the off-campus community are advised to use the Park & Ride lot on campus, located near the Service Complex on Ring Road. A special shuttle for this event will be operating from 2 to 4:30 p.m. For further details, contact the organizer of this event, Dr. Virginia Horvath, Vice President for Academic Affairs at SUNY Fredonia (716-673-3335).