Close

Events

Dead men's propaganda: ideology and utopia in comparative communication studies

Hosted by LSE Press and the Department of Media and Communications

In-person and online public event (Old Theatre, Old Building)

Speakers

Professor Bingchun Meng

Professor Bingchun Meng

Professor Jeff Pooley

Professor Jeff Pooley

Professor Terhi Rantanen

Professor Terhi Rantanen

Dr Marsha Siefert

Dr Marsha Siefert

Dr Wendy Willems

Dr Wendy Willems

Chair

Professor Myria Georgiou

Professor Myria Georgiou

Who were the key pioneers in the formation of comparative communications between the 1920s – 1950s, and how do their legacies of scholarship and practice inform the contemporary global landscapes of news reporting on war and the dissemination of propaganda?

Exploring Terhi Rantanen’s new book, Dead Men’s Propaganda: Ideology and Utopia in Comparative Communications Studies, this panel will examine how comparative communications research, from its very beginning, can be understood as governed by the Mannheimian concepts of ideology and utopia and the power play between them. The close relationship between these two concepts resulted in a bias in knowledge production in comparative communications research, contributed to dominant narratives of generational conflicts, and to the demarcation of Insiders and Outsiders. By focusing on a generation at the forefront of comparative communications at this pivotal time, this book uses detailed archival research and case studies to challenge dominant orthodoxies in the intellectual histories of communication studies.

Meet our speakers and chair

Bingchun Meng is Professor in the Department for Media and Communications at LSE, where she also co-directs the LSE-Fudan Global Public Policy Research Centre. Professor Meng is currently the Director of LSE PhD Academy and Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP).

Jeff Pooley (joining remotely) is Lecturer at the Annenberg School for Communication and is Affiliated Professor of Media & Communication at Muhlenberg College. He also directs mediastudies.press, a nonprofit open access publisher in communication and media studies. His teaching and research interests center on the history of communication research, social media and identity, and scholarly communication.

Terhi Rantanen is Professor in Global Media and Communications in the Department of Media and Communications at LSE. She is the founder of the Department’s two double MSc programmes, with the University of Southern California (USC), which she directed from 2000 to date, and with Fudan University, Shanghai, which she directed for its first three years.

Marsha Siefert (joining remotely) specializes in cultural and communications history, particularly media industries and public diplomacy, from the nineteenth-century to the present. The most recent of her six edited books is Labor in State-Socialist Europe, 1945-1989: Contributions to a History of Work. Since 2020 she has taught in the CEU Erasmus Master's program, History in the Public Sphere.

Wendy Willems is Associate Professor in the Department of Media and Communications at LSE. She holds a PhD in Media and Film Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, a BSc/MSc in Economics ('International Economic Studies') and a BA/MA in Cultural Studies ('Cultuur- en Wetenschapsstudies') from the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands.

Myria Georgiou (@MyriaGeorgiou4) is Professor in the Department of Media and Communications at LSE. Professor Georgiou is the author and editor of five books and more than sixty peer reviewed publications. Her work has been published in English, French, Portuguese, Japanese, and Greek. She has also worked as a consultant for a number of regional and international organisations, most importantly the Council of Europe in three different projects.

More about this event

This event will be available to watch on LSE Live. LSE Live is the new home for our live streams, allowing you to tune in and join the global debate at LSE, wherever you are in the world. If you can't attend live, a video will be made available shortly afterwards on LSE's YouTube channel.

Launched in May 2018, LSE Press (@LSPress) supports the promotion of high-quality social science research and enables wide public access through the use of open, digital publication methods. We publish books and journals and encourage and facilitate innovative and experimental publications. LSE Press works with authors to develop and launch publications that reflect the LSE founding purpose and mission.

The Department of Media and Communications (@MediaLSE) is a world-leading centre for education and research in communication and media studies at the heart of LSE’s academic community in central London. The Department is ranked #1 in the UK and #3 globally in the field of media and communications (2021 QS World University Rankings).

This event is part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2024, taking place from 19 October to 9 November with events across the UK.

Podcast & video 

A podcast of this event is available to download from Dead men's propaganda: ideology and utopia in comparative communication studies.

A video of this event is available to watch at Dead men's propaganda: ideology and utopia in comparative communication studies.

Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel.

Hashtag for this event: #LSEEvents

LSE Blogs
Many speakers at LSE events also write for LSE Blogs, which present research and critical commentary accessibly for a public audience. Follow British Politics and Policy, the Business Review, the Impact Blog, European Politics and Policy and the LSE Review of Books to learn more about the debates our events series present.

Live captions

Automated live captions are available at this live event. Please note that this feature uses Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) technology, or machine generated transcription and is not 100% accurate.

Photography

Photographs taken on behalf of LSE are often used on our social media accounts, website and publications. At events, photographs could include broad shots of the audience and lecture theatre, of speakers during the talk, and of audience members as they participate in the Q&A.

If you are photographed participating in an event Q&A but would not like your photograph to be stored for future use, please contact events@lse.ac.uk.

Podcasts
We aim to make all LSE events available as a podcast subject to receiving permission from the speaker/s to do this, and subject to no technical problems with the recording of the event. Podcasts are normally available 1 week after the event. Podcasts and videos of past events can be found online.

Social Media

Follow LSE public events on X for the latest updates on all our events and ticket releases. 

Livestreams and archive videos of past lectures are shared on our YouTube channel while event podcasts can be found on the LSE Player.

Event updates and other information about what’s happening at LSE can be found on our Facebook page and for live photos from events and around campus, follow us on Instagram. 

Attending our events in-person or online? Join the conversation using #LSEEvents.

Accessibility
If you are planning to attend this event and would like details on how to get here and what time to arrive, as well as on accessibility and special requirements, please refer to LSE Events FAQ.  LSE aims to ensure that people have equal access to these public events, but please contact the events organiser as far as possible in advance if you have any access requirements so that arrangements, where possible, can be made. If the event is ticketed, please ensure you get in touch in advance of the ticket release date. Access Guides to all our venues can be viewed online.

WIFI Access
LSE has now introduced wireless for guests and visitors in association with 'The Cloud', also in use at many other locations across the UK. If you are on campus visiting for the day or attending a conference or event, you can connect your device to wireless. See more information and create an account at Join the Cloud.
Visitors from other participating institutions are encouraged to use eduroam. If you are having trouble connecting to eduroam, please contact your home institution for assistance.
The Cloud is only intended for guest and visitor access to wifi. Existing LSE staff and students are encouraged to use eduroam instead.
From time to time there are changes to event details so we strongly recommend that if you plan to attend this event you check back on this listing on the day of the event.

Share

  Sign up for news about events