Date
Sep 04 - Sep 08, 2021
Session no.
Session 721
Location

Online

Contact
Terron Ferguson
Salzburg Global
Antonio Riolino
Senior Program Manager
Share
Peace & Justice

The President, the Press and the People: American Politics

Democracy is about ideas and narratives. Stories that provide a common set of facts, influence public opinion, and create majoritarian will. The President, the press, and the people are each primary authors of the American story. Whose version of events determines how Americans see themselves and how the world sees America?

Continuing our series on the future of democracy, the Salzburg Global American Studies Program explored the roles and relationships between the executive branch in the US, the international media, and citizens of global democracy. Given the variety of voices shaping the public’s imagination, how have citizens productively participated in democracy in the past and how do they participate now? This multi-day online convening consisted of a series of “virtual town hall meetings” where we explored how the media presents selected topics in American politics. 

This multi-component program brought together a diverse interdisciplinary group from North America, Europe, South America, Africa and the Middle East, and Asia to identify and discuss the ways in which media coverage of the US presidency coincides and differs domestically and internationally. Participants analyzed which political, economic, and cultural trends the press chooses to highlight, monitor, and comment upon, in order to discuss how this influences world events, public response and the future of democratic institutions and civic engagement.

The public relies on the media to gain insight into how the president, and other world leaders, view key events, issues, and figures as well as how they use political, economic, and cultural crosscurrents to make policy choices. Nowadays, political leaders can speak directly to their public, engaging citizens in fresh ways or manipulating them to stoke grievance and division. Beyond the news, cultural representations of US presidents – real and fictional – have also long influenced how the world and the US views “leadership of the free world.” Other countries’ reactions to American presidential actions are influenced by their own national media markets and may in turn determine how those media report on their own heads of state.

Date
Sep 04 - Sep 08, 2021
Session no.
Session 721
Location

Online

Contact
Terron Ferguson
Salzburg Global
Antonio Riolino
Senior Program Manager
Share
Content overview
Participants Staff

Participants

Mazhar Abdelhalim Elshorbagy
Assistant Professor
Niels Bjerre-Poulsen
Associate Professor
Valentina Cassar
Senior Lecturer
Jana Ciglerova
US Correspondent
Gwili Clifton
Retired
Damon Coletta
Scowcroft Professor of Political Science
Paul Jerome Croce
Professor
Mamadou Diallo
Teacher of English
Patrick Finnessy
Master Chair
Marty Gecek
Chair, American Studies Program Advisory Committee
Christian Gilde
Professor
Alexandra Glavanakova
Associate Professor in American Literature and Cul
Marcos Guedes de Oliveira
Professor
Ralph Janik
Lecturer
Molina Klingler
PhD Student
Andrew Koh
Deputy General Manager and Regional Head of Risk
Richard Kreitner
Writer
Elisavet Ktenidou
EFL Teacher
Monica Lopez
Co-Founder & CEO
Samuel Ludwig
Professor of English
Diana Madroane
Associate Professor
Ruby Maloni
Professor of History, Retired
Thomas Mantzaris
Independent Researcher
Louis Mazzari
Adjunct Professor
Ed Medeiros da Silva
Assistant Professor
Louis Mendy
Professor of American Studies
Brianna Menning
Assistant to the President
Anne Mørk
Book Editor / Independent Scholar
Taj Muhammad
Lecturer in Law
Kamir Delivrance Nzale
Adjunct Faculty
Joshy Paul
Research Fellow
Valentina Projer
PhD Student America Institute
Pascal Rathle
Associate
Franziska Riel
Freelancer & Fellow
Peter Rose
Professor Emeritus; Visiting Scholar
Richard Schneider de la Torre
Student
Alex Seago
Emeritus Professor of Cultural Studies
Ryan Shepard
Associate Vice President of U.S. Programs
Mariam Sherwani
Research Assistant
Maciek Smólka
PhD Student, Faculty Intern. & Political Studies
Frida Stranne
Senior Lecturer
Bohdan Szklarski
Associate Professor
Julio Teehankee
Professor
Efthymios Tziokas
National Expert, Legal and Political Affairs
Ewelina Wasko-Owsiejczuk
Assistant Professor
Srdjan Jovanovic Weiss
Founder of NAO and visiting professor at Harvard
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Staff

Terron Ferguson
Salzburg Global
Antonio Riolino
Senior Program Manager
Maryam Ghaddar
Impact Reporter
Content overview
Participants Staff

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