MIT News coverage of Open To Debate

Changing the face of conservatism in the U.S.

New book by professor Heather Hendershot explores impact of William F. Buckley’s “Firing Line.”

Peter Dizikes | MIT News Office

“We are in a moment when the loudest voices seem to be the most extreme,” Hendershot says.

And as strongly as Buckley held to his conservative views, Hendershot thinks, he promoted on “Firing Line” a very different ethos of public debate than the one we have today.

“You could come to it as a conservative and become a better, smarter conservative, or come to it as a liberal and become a better, smarter liberal,” Hendershot says. “He was willing to accept that people might listen to a liberal and think, ‘That’s a good idea.’ But he thought he would win. That is a kind of model that we can take a lot from.”

Read the article here: http://news.mit.edu/2016/book-changing-face-conservatism-us-firing-line-1004

Reading Bill Buckley in the Age of Trump

Clark S. Judge reviews ‘Open to Debate’ by Heather Hendershot and ‘A Torch Kept Lit’ edited by James Rosen.

“A second book featuring Bill Buckley takes up still another aspect of his public persona. The author, Heather Hendershot, is a professor of film and media at MIT. “Open to Debate: How William F. Buckley Put Liberal America on The Firing Line” is a survey and critique of the television program that did so much, over three decades, to make Buckley a celebrity presence in national life.”

Read the article- http://www.wsj.com/articles/reading-bill-buckley-in-the-age-of-trump-1475267507

Open to Debate

How William F. Buckley Put Liberal America on the Firing Line

https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062430458/open-to-debate

“Hendershot lauds Buckley for the intelligence, honesty, wit, civility, and élan with which he developed meaningful dialogues … A cogent reminder of what political broadcasting could be.”
—Booklist (starred review)

“Clever…a good introduction not only to Buckley and smart conservative thought but (strange concept) a sadly disappeared politics of civility.”
—Los Angeles Times

“William F. Buckley and his long-running, unique show Firing Line provides a window (if sometimes a curved mirror) through which to see a turbulent and transformative time in American politics. If you want to step into a time machine for a look back, this book is your ticket.”
—Ira Glasser, American Civil Liberties Union Executive Director 1978-2001

“Hendershot does more than tell the history of a uniquely influential show and personality; her thorough, compelling, and very readable book provides a three-decade journey through the center of the nation’s intellectual life.”
—Publishers Weekly

“A thoroughly researched work replete with intelligence, admiration, balanced criticism, and even a bit of nostalgia.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

A unique and compelling portrait of William F. Buckley as the champion of conservative ideas in an age of liberal dominance, taking on the smartest adversaries he could find while singlehandedly reinventing the role of public intellectual in the network television era.

When Firing Line premiered on American television in 1966, just two years after Barry Goldwater’s devastating defeat, liberalism was ascendant. Though the left seemed to have decisively won the hearts and minds of the electorate, the show’s creator and host, William F. Buckley—relishing his role as a public contrarian—made the case for conservative ideas, believing that his side Continue reading “Open to Debate”

What’s Fair on the Air?

COLD WAR RIGHT-WING BROADCASTING AND THE PUBLIC INTEREST

http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/W/bo11462413.html

The rise of right-wing broadcasting during the Cold War has been mostly forgotten today. But in the 1950s and ’60s you could turn on your radio any time of the day and listen to diatribes against communism, civil rights, the United Nations, fluoridation, federal income tax, Social Security, or JFK, as well as hosannas praising Barry Goldwater and Jesus Christ. Half a century before the rise of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, these broadcasters bucked the FCC’s public interest mandate and created an alternate universe of right-wing political coverage, anticommunist sermons, and pro-business bluster. Continue reading

Shaking the World for Jesus

MEDIA AND CONSERVATIVE EVANGELICAL CULTURE

http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo3629610.html

In 1999, the Reverend Jerry Falwell outed Tinky-Winky, the purple character from TV’s Teletubbies. Events such as this reinforced in many quarters the common idea that evangelicals are reactionary, out of touch, and just plain paranoid. But reducing evangelicals to such caricatures does not help us understand their true spiritual and political agendas and the means they use to advance them. Shaking the World for Jesus moves beyond sensationalism to consider how the evangelical movement has effectively targeted Americans—as both converts and consumers—since the 1970s. Continue reading “Shaking the World for Jesus”

Saturday Morning Censors

Television Regulation before the V-Chip

https://www.dukeupress.edu/saturday-morning-censors

Many parents, politicians, and activists agree that there’s too much violence and not enough education on children’s television. Current solutions range from the legislative (the Children’s Television Act of 1990) to the technological (the V-chip). Saturday Morning Censors examines the history of adults’ attempts to safeguard children from the violence, sexism, racism, and commercialism on television since the 1950s. By focusing on what censorship and regulation are and how they work—rather than on whether they should exist—Heather Hendershot shows how adults use these processes to reinforce their own ideas about childhood innocence. Continue reading “Saturday Morning Censors”

Tag: Media