Talk Show Democracy Conference

Day 2: The Funny Part: Political Humor and its Role in Shaping the Democratic Process
This panel was organized by the Knight-Wallace Fellows.

Political Humor, Part I
Charles Eisendrath, Director, Knight-Wallace Fellows: Introductory Remarks
Bob Mankoff, New Yorker magazine cartoon editor
James W. Cook, University of Michigan cultural historian
Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial cartoonist
Panel Discussion

Political Humor, Part II
Patrick Oliphant, nationally syndicated political cartoonist
Tom Gammill, Simpsons writer/producer

Political Humor, Part III
John Morreall, College of William and Mary professor of religious studies
Panel Discussion: Tom Gammill, Patrick Oliphant, Bob Mankoff, Mike Luckovich, James W. Cook, and John Morreall.

Day 1: Talk Show Democracy: The Media and its Public

Lance Bennett, University of Washington
“Truthiness: How Political Comedy Adds Perspective to Mainstream News”

Michael X. Delli Carpini, University of Pennsylvania
“Politics and Publics in the New Information Environment: Putting the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election in Context”

Lynn Spigel, Northwestern University
“Person to Person: Performing Private Life on Early TV”

Dilip Gaonkar, Northwestern University
“Voice, Violence and Democracy”

Sean Jacobs, University of Michigan
“Afrikaner Identity, Globalization and the Post-Apartheid Public”

Lucia Saks, University of Michigan
“A Crisis for the Cinema: Screening HIV/AIDS in South Africa”

Herman Wasserman, University of Sheffield, UK, and University of Stellenbosch, South Africa
“Global Infotainment and the Politics of the Everyday: Reading Post-apartheid South African Tabloids”