Charles Dameron ’11 Calls for ‘Empathetic Objectivity’ in Foreign Broadcasting

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Read the full story, originally published by the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding news.

Charles S. Dameron ’11, the 2011 winner of the Dickey Center for International Understanding Chase Peace Prize for a Senior Thesis, joined two prominent scholars on campus last week for a panel discussion of his research on government-sponsored foreign broadcasts, such as Voice of America and Al Jazeera.

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Charles Dameron ’11 is currently interning at Radio Free Europe in Prague. He was on campus recently to discuss his 2011 Chase Peace Prize winning- thesis. (photo courtesy of Charles Dameron ’11)

Dameron’s contention that the best way to influence foreign attitudes is not to spin subjects to the host government’s advantage, but to cover news with the assumptions and needs of the target audience in mind. He calls this “empathetic objectivity.”

Dameron’s thesis research found that the more objective and truthful the broadcast, the more foreign audiences wanted to listen to it. “And listenership translates to impact,” he asserts.

At the end of his current internship with Radio Free Europe in Prague, Czech Republic, Dameron will enter Yale Law School. Dameron’s internship is supported by a James B. Reynolds Scholarship for Foreign Study, the largest post-graduate fellowship awarded last spring through Dartmouth’s Office of Scholarship Advising.

The Chase Senior Thesis Prize is presented every year by the Dickey Center for International Understanding. It was established by Edward M. Chase to encourage reflection on the causes of war and peace and the prospects for peace in the world.

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