wfn.org | Presbyterians host Electronic Great Awakening event

[PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org]

Note #6218 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

16-October-2000
00357

Presbyterians host Electronic Great Awakening event

PC(USA) gets serious about media literacy

by Evan Silverstein

SAN ANSELMO, Calif. -- The Presbyterian Media Mission (PMM) of Pittsburgh,
in cooperation with the Center for the Study of Electronic Media (CSEM) at
San Francisco Theological Seminary (SFTS) and the Office of Communication of
the Presbyterian Church (USA), is sponsoring the first-ever media literacy
training conference.

	The event will be Oct. 26-28 on the campus of SFTS in San Anselmo, Calif.

	"Living in a media-saturated culture all us of need an electronic Great
Awakening," said the Rev. John Silbert, conference coordinator. "This
conference is the next step in a program of media literacy education for the
Presbyterian Church (USA)."

	The Electronic Great Awakening began in 1998 as a partnership project of
PMM and the denomination's Office of Communication.  The conference brings
together interested pastors, educators and lay people to critically analyze
and spiritually reflect on the media culture in which we live.  Those
attending will receive a crash course in media literacy and creatively
examine a variety of popular media from a Biblical and reformed perspective.

	Formal workshop presenters include Elizabeth Thoman, founder and executive
director of the Center for Media Literacy in Los Angeles, Calif.; Hollywood
Producer-Director Michael Rhodes; Ken Wales, executive producer of "Christy"
for CBS-TV; Ed McNulty, Presbyterians Today columnist, film critic and
author of "Visual Parables"; Reba Griffith, a health communicator at the
Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Ga.; Walt Davis and Gary Dreibelbis
of the SFTS faculty and CSEM; Teresa Blythe, a senior researcher with CSEM;
and Silbert, who also serves as coordinator of PMM's Electronic Great
Awakening development team.

	This conference is the first step in building a denomination-wide network
of regionally-based media literacy advocates.

	 "We're very excited about this event," Silbert said.  "Our program of a
denomination-wide network of trained media literacy educators is a
first-of-its-kind-effort.  The international media literacy movement is a
large one, but is not well organized in religious circles. Among faith-based
media educators we have met in national gatherings, our effort is on the
cutting edge."
	
	 For more information about the conference, contact Silbert by phone:
(412)323-1400, extension 310; by Fax: (412)323-2256; or by
e-mail:ega@pcusa.org . Or log onto the conference's World Wide Web site at
www.pcusa.org/ega.

_______________________________________________
pcusaNews mailing list
pcusaNews@pcusa.org

To unsubscribe, go to this web address:
http://pcusa01.pcusa.org/mailman/listinfo/pcusanews