In the latest episode of the Democracy’s Future podcast, two professors at Illinois State University talk about two series they’ve put together about the 2024 election.
With the 2024 presidential election coming up, two professors at Illinois State University spoke with WGLT about two projects they developed to help educate students and community members about the election.
Associate professor in the School of Communication Lauren Bratslavsky and associate chair in the Department of Politics and Government Meghan Leonard organized a film series and a speaker series, respectively. The series were developed separately.
Bratslavsky, the organizer of the film series Politics and the Media Machines, says the films help to show that the politics of today are not separate from the politics of the past.
“I think for each of these, they’re good opportunities to do that compare and contrast,” Bratslavsky said. “[to ask] ‘What are some things that seem pretty similar to today?’”
“We’ve seen these kinds of things before as far as polarization or how news media or the public imaging of candidates have happened,” Bratslavsky continued. “That’s a big one to see some of those continuities and, of course, also the changes to compare to today.”
The series consists of three films, two of which are historical in content.
The first film, 1957's A Face in the Crowd was shown on Monday. The next two films are 1972's The Candidate, which will be shown Monday, Sept. 30, and 2012's The Campaign, which will be shown Monday, Oct. 14, at the Normal Theater.
Democracy in Focus
Leonard, the organizer of the speaker series entitled Democracy in Focus, said she designed her project to help generate important conversations.
“What we want to gain is a discussion about some of the topics most relevant to the election with experts who spend their time studying those topics,” Leonard said.
Leonard also explained the speaker series hopes to help audience members to be able to relate their questions to what is happening currently.
“Our focus in this speaker series is bringing this information to students, to the community and to the public to relate what is happening right now to what [they] might want to know or might want to know about this election cycle specifically,” Leonard said.
“The film series is taking a much more historical approach but reminding us that we can take a lot from history and from art,” Leonard continued.
Leonard said the series aims to create confidence in voters.
“You can go into the election knowing that you have some more background information, you’ve done some research and you’re learning about some of those important things,” Leonard said.
The first lecture is set for 3:30 p.m. Wednesday and focused on Latino political participation. It will take place in the Old Main Room of Bone Student Center.
The next lecture, Down the Rabbit Hole?: The Political Psychology of Conspiracy Beliefs, will take place at 3:30 p.m. Oct. 9 in the Center for Visual Arts, room 151.
Following is Lessons learned from Freedom of Speech Concerns on Campus, at 7 p.m. Oct. 10 in the Prairie Room at Bone Student Center.
Next will be a conversation about running for office with Mike Franken, former candidate for U.S. Senate in Iowa, at 8 a.m. Oct. 14 in Schroeder Hall, room 106.
Last of the series is The Politics of Violence as a Threat to American Democracy with Hibbert R. Roberts at 7 p.m. Oct. 30 in the Brown Ballroom at the Bone Student Center.
In our next episode, we’ll discuss early voting and what student participation looks like on the ISU campus.
Please give us your feedback on this series and let us know if there are certain issues you’d like us to explore. Email us at news@wglt.org.
Subscribe to Democracy’s Future on the NPR App or wherever you get your podcasts. For a full transcript, visit this episode on Apple Podcasts.
