WAUKESHA – The University of Wisconsin-Waukesha will take part in the national DebateWatch 2000. It is sponsoring a session, moderated by Margaret Hirschberg from the Political Science department and Mark Lococo in Communication and Theatre Arts, on October 11 in the Commons TV lounge beginning at 7:30 p.m.
The event is nonpartisan, free and open to all. Debates start at 8:00 pm, but an earlier arrival assures that all will get settled in before the debate begins.
Through this program, citizens gather to watch the televised presidential debates together and then turn off the television and hold a discussion to evaluate them without the benefit of any media interpretation. Each group that participates reports what it thinks to the sponsoring Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), a non-partisan, non-profit organization. CPD then releases summaries of these reports, telling the media how citizens around the country react to the debates and to the candidates as they present themselves in the TV performances.
Hirschberg and Lococo are teaching an interdisciplinary class this semester on “The Rhetoric of Campaigns and Elections.” Students in the class will be applying analytic skills they are learning.
Established in 1987, CPD undertakes research and educational activities relating to the debates in order to educate voters. First introduced in 1996, DebateWatch serves as an educational tool both for those who participate and for those who review the reports. |
