Photo caption: During his Sept. 7 presentation, Dean Kallenbach will address how individuals can become better citizens by being discerning about their sources for news and understanding the difference between fact-based journalism and audience-driven opinion.
The Thursdays at the U series at the University of Wisconsin – Barron County begins its fall lineup with a presentation titled “Are You Getting Real News?" by well-known western Wisconsin broadcast journalist Dean Kallenbach.
Kallenbach will speak from 12:30-1:30 p.m. Sept. 7 in the Blue Hills Lecture Hall in Ritzinger Hall on the Rice Lake campus. The presentation also will be livestreamed at ricelaketv.com.
Information is more available than ever before, yet fact-based journalism is in trouble. Much of western and northern Wisconsin is considered a news desert. We have more choices than ever, but how do we choose information sources that aren't simply some side's propaganda or pure misinformation? How have we gone from Walter Cronkite and Huntley and Brinkley to Rachel Maddow and Sean Hannity?
A well-informed public is key to a healthy democracy, but how do we know who to trust when it comes to the information we take in? During his presentation, Kallenbach will address how individuals can become better citizens by being discerning about their sources for news and understanding the difference between fact-based journalism and audience-driven opinion.
Kallenbach had a 46-year career in broadcasting that began as a teenage disk jockey at WJMC Radio in Rice Lake and ended with a 35-year career as a broadcast journalist, talk-show host and western Wisconsin regional manager for Wisconsin Public Radio. He now prices vintage books as a volunteer at the Hope Gospel Mission Bargain Center, serves on the Eau Claire County Town of Union Parks Commission, and keeps bees and chickens with his wife, Sandy, on their one-acre plot just west of Eau Claire.
The Thursdays at the U weekly series is free and open to the public thanks to support from the UW-Eau Claire – Barron County Foundation. Neither seating reservations nor parking permits are needed for campus guests. In addition to the livestream option, the recordings are archived on the Thursdays at the U webpage.
The next talk in the series will be Sept. 14, with Trisha Witham, a community health educator for the Aging & Disability Resource Center of Barron & Rusk Counties, presenting “Preventing Dementia: What We Know.”
For more information about the series, call the campus at 715-788-6244 or email Dr. Linda Tollefsrud, the series organizer, at tollefla@uwec.edu.
