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"Janson & Janson–Loving Kids Save Art History: Slides at 11"

5 Comments -

1 – 5 of 5
Blogger sally said...

good news! thanks so much for the update.

April 21, 2010 at 9:26 AM

Blogger Paul Rapoport said...

Note that the Hamilton Spectator article reveals clear bias against the students' position that won in the university's Senate. It gives reasons to close the program but none of the students' objections, and it pretends that the only value of Art History is curation.

April 21, 2010 at 2:51 PM

Blogger Leah Sandals said...

Hey guys, thanks for your comments.

Paul, I can understand your irritation with us media types... we tend to generalize a lot for tight word counts and fast writing. Perhaps the fact that art history "won" means that the reporter sought out the "alternate" anti opinions to generate narrative tension.

Alternatively, it might be hard for a "hard news" type to quickly summarize the complex benefits of maintaining the art history program... how would you express those benefits or that value in 50 words or less, no art-hist jargon allowed? (Fun game! Don't think I could win this one : ) )

April 21, 2010 at 8:24 PM

Blogger Paul Rapoport said...

Leah, as you may know, the paper in question has a longstanding basic policy of not criticizing the university administration. And if the students involved in this can summarize their argument in a few lines, which they've done repeatedly, why can't Wade Hemsworth, the reporter in question?

Since your posting, he's done it again several times, taking the administration's side consistently. Sorry, that's unacceptable.

May 18, 2010 at 7:41 AM

Blogger Leah Sandals said...

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the update.

I know you may have done this already, but if you perceive unfair bias I encourage you to write a concise letter to the editor and cc. the publisher of the newspaper.

For those who want to catch up on some story developments, and the Spectator's coverage, see

http://www.thespec.com/search?q=%22art%20history%22

Including this latest update:

http://www.thespec.com/article/768493

Personally, I don't see the bias in this particular article, excepting the "it might not last long" part. *But* I haven't studied the coverage indepth like Paul has. Also, I do note on the Spectator site that it has a "community partnership" with McMaster: http://www.thespec.com/aboutus

May 18, 2010 at 9:50 AM

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