National Public Radio’s first full-time television critic will be the speaker as The Beacon Salon Speaker Series opens its sixth season 7 p.m. Sept. 8 at the Venetian Center.
Eric Deggans will talk about “The Future of TV, Social Media and Objective Truth in the Modern World.” Admission is free and open to the public, but registration is required.
Deggans is NPR’s first full-time TV critic, crafting stories and commentaries for the network’s shows, such as “Morning Edition,” “Here & Now,” and “All Things Considered,” along with writing material for NPR.org. He also appears on NPR podcasts such as “Life Kit,” “Code Switch,” “It’s Been a Minute,” and “Pop Culture Happy Hour.”
In addition to his NPR work, Deggans is a contributor and medEricia analyst for MSNBC and NBC News, dissecting media issues on NBC TV platforms and online. He is an adjunct instructor of journalism and public policy in the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. And in 2020, he was given the Distinguished Alumni Service Award by Indiana University — the institution’s highest alumni honor — four years after Indiana University’s Media School of journalism and communications named him a distinguished alumnus.
In his talk Sept. 8, Deggans will discuss how today’s clash between political ideologies and evolving technologies has created a world where people have trouble agreeing on the most basic facts, even as the growing reach of media products connects us in ways we could not have imagined just 10 years ago.
Through his work as a media analyst, TV critic and social issues thought leader, Deggans has developed a presentation outlining how media technology will evolve in the future and how that will affect how we all communicate with each other. He explores whether the film industry has a future, why misinformation and argument culture may be the biggest threat to democracy and why what the consumer wants is becoming the most powerful metric in media.
The Beacon Salon Series is an educational outreach program of Beacon College. The series — which channels the spirit of intellectual discourse of the French salons of the Enlightenment — invites the Central Florida community to partake in lifelong learning at the feet of respected scholars, to enrich their souls through the beauty and vibrancy of visual and performing arts, and to weigh new perspectives on old issues through lectures from breakthrough authors and national speakers.
For more information about Salon Events and to view the schedule for the rest of the season, visit https://www.beaconcollege.edu/news-events/beacon-salon-series/
