The Chase Senior Thesis Prize

The Chase Senior Thesis Prize is awarded to the best senior thesis that treats the subject of war, conflict resolution, the prospects and problems of maintaining peace or other related topics.

2011 Winner: Charles S. Dameron ‘11

Thesis: To Better Know One Another: The Meaning and Importance of Empathetic Objectivity in Government-Sponsored International Broadcasting

Monday, February 27, 2012

4:30-6:00pm

041 Haldeman Center  

Free and open tothe public. 

Panelist:

Charles Dameron ’11, prize winner.

Kenneth Osgood, Director of the McBride Honors Program in Public Affairs and Associate Professor in the Division of Liberal Arts and International Studies at the Colorado School of Mines.

A. Ross Johnson, Senior Scholar, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Senior Advisor, RFE/RL.

Moderator:

William Wohlforth, Dartmouth College

Abstract:

This study seeks to understand the effect that relative standards of editorial objectivity and empathy have on the levels of influence achieved among foreign publics by government sponsored international broadcasters. It examines case studies from the Cold War and contemporary Middle East and utilizes experimental survey data to find that an international broadcaster’s editorial approach to its audience has a decisive effect on its ability to project influence. It finds that the most important determinants of a broadcaster’s editorial approach are its understanding of its target audience and its editorial autonomy.