The Echo Chamber Project has secured its first advisor from the Academic world.
Dr. Andrew R. Cline is an assistant professor of journalism at Southwest Missouri State University and a specialist in rhetorical analysis and web-based journalism.
Cline has agreed to provide his journalistic and rhetorical insights throughout the post-production process of The Echo Chamber documentary. Specifically, he will provide comments on The Echo Chamberinterview transcripts and give feedback throughout the treatment, scripting, and editing phases of this independent film.
Adhering to the transparency principles of Open-Source Content Development, Cline has agreed to make all of his comments and feedback on-the-record. These will be available either through his own Rhetorica: Press-Politics Journal blog or through specific e-mail excerpts that will be published on Echo Chamber Project's Blog.
Cline's Rhetorica Network"offers analysis and commentary about the rhetoric, propaganda, and spin of journalism and politics, including analysis of presidential speeches and election campaigns."
The Echo Chamber is a documentary that analyzes the pre-war failings of the broadcast television news media, and will attempt to integrate the communication mediums of the Internet with Documentary Filmmaking throughout the post-production process.
Appropriately, Cline teaches in the Media, Journalism, & Film Department at SMSU's School of Communications Studies, and brings an impressive set of qualifications to help guide and shape this project.
Cline is a member of the following organizations: Rhetoric Society of America, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Society of Professional Journalists, and American Political Science Association.
The Echo Chamber director Kent Bye serendipitously discovered Dr. Cline's Rhetorica blog while performing a Google search on Journalistic Field Theory.
Bye then researched Cline's pre-war commentary on the press was impressed with the quality of his media criticism, non-partisan political analysis and academic insights into the field of rhetorical analysis. Bye contacted Cline a month ago to become an advisor to The Echo Chamber, and today received confirmation on Cline's level of participation.
Bye says, "I'm really excited about the possibilities of combining the power of the blogosphere with investigative documentary filmmaking and the principles of open source content development to create a new journalistic paradigm. This new type of "Integral Journalism" should be able create new opportunities for how an audience can create meaning. The active participation of Dr. Andrew R. Cline is the first step towards building a support network of advisors who will be able to provide their academic expertise and professional insights to the world throughout this post-production process."
Currently, Bye is recruiting more post-production advisors and a full-time producer. He tentatively plans on completing The Echo Chamber documentary sometime between the Fall of 2005 and Spring of 2006.
For More Information, Contact Kent Bye at 207-223-5566
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Update: Dr. Cline has posted this press release on Rhetorica.net both here and here.
After I finish this post on "Integrating Film, Internet, Blogs & Open Source," then I'm going to send it out to a few other people.