Rogers Chair

James Compton standing outside the FIMS & Nursing Building in front of some flowers

Current Chair holder: Associate Professor James Compton, July 1, 2023 - June 30, 2025

Topic: Communicating Solidarity in an Unstable World

Public life in liberal democracies has become hyper-polarized in recent years, with opinion research indicating that faith in mainstream liberal institutions, including government and journalism, has faltered, while bad-faith politicians and conspiracy theorists label news organizations purveyors of “fake news.” Associate Professor James Compton, the current Rogers Chair of Studies in Journalism and New Information Technology, will examine this dynamic through the lens of social solidarity. Sociological examinations of neoliberalism have concluded that the neoliberal project is in crisis and has become unstable, producing with it social fragmentation, fear, resentment and anxiety. Into this moment came the global COVID-19 pandemic, which exposed and amplified pre-existing social inequalities. Professor Compton takes an historical approach to social analysis, informed by the cultural materialism of Raymond Williams, and critical political economy, to examine the status of progressive solidarity, and how it might be strengthened. Four themes will be addressed over the course of the two-year Chairship.

2023-2025 Research Themes

FIMS Rogers Chair Wordmark Theme 1: Understanding inequality, and challenges to neoliberal hegemony

Theme 2: Building a progressive solidarity through investment in social reproduction

Theme 3: Journalism's contradictory role in social reproduction

Theme 4: The role of labour in building & communicating progressive solidarity

 

More information

Upcoming Events

Lies, damned lies and democracy!
Wednesday, October 18, 2023
12:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Attend in-person: FNB 3090
Attend online: Zoom Webinar
Featuring Professor Emeritus Anton Allahar, Department of Sociology, Western University.

Abstract: My title borrows from a famous quote that is attributed to Mark Twain who in turn attributed it to Benjamin Disraeli, a former British PM. Apparently when Disraeli was shown to be low in the poll numbers, he asserted: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics!” I modify this quote to read: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and democracy!” For my contention is that much of what passes for democracy today is based on transparent lies that are sold to an unsuspecting public by politicians, multiple civic leaders, media enterprises, teachers and even professors. It speaks to the processes by which a largely credulous populace exhibits a cultural willingness to accept myth and make-believe as ‘truth.’ In other words, the populace is so steeped in ideological distraction, so deceived that they are unable and even unwilling to see the ‘truth.’ I mean no disrespect to anyone, but that make-believe is rooted in the public’s widespread embrace of religion and the simultaneous rejection of scientific knowledge and fact. In the process ideologies of God, ‘race,’ gender, ‘tribe’ and nation are elevated and overall social solidarity is actively undermined. Finally, my argument directs attention to the phenomenon of Trumpism as a point of empirical reference (continue).

About James Compton

James Compton is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at Western University, where he studies the political economy of communication and culture. Professor Compton has previously served as the President of the University of Western Ontario Faculty Association (UWOFA), and President of the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT). He holds current membership in the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), and the Union for Democratic Communications (UDC).

Previous Rogers Chair Appointees

  • Anabel Quan-Haase, Professor, Faculty of Information and Media Studies and the Faculty of Social Science, The University of Western Ontario, July 1, 2021 - June 30, 2023.

  • Matt Stahl, Associate Professor, Faculty of Information and Media Studies, The University of Western Ontario, July 1, 2019 - June 30, 2021.

  • Sharon Sliwinski, Associate Professor, Faculty of Information and Media Studies, The University of Western Ontario, July 1, 2017-June 30, 2019.

  • Nick Dyer-Witheford, Associate Professor, Faculty of Information and Media Studies, The University of Western Ontario, July 1, 2015-June 30, 2017.

  • Grant Campbell, Associate Professor, Faculty of Information and Media Studies, The University of Western Ontario, July 1, 2013-June 30, 2015.

  • Alison Hearn, Associate Professor, Faculty of Information and Media Studies, The University of Western Ontario, July 1, 2011-June 30, 2013.

  • Daniel Robinson, Associate Professor, Faculty of Information and Media Studies, The University of Western Ontario, July 1, 2010-June 30, 2011.

  • Jonathan Burston, Associate Professor, Faculty of Information and Media Studies, The University of Western Ontario, July 1, 2009-June 30, 2010.

  • Edward Comor, Associate Professor, Faculty of Information and Media Studies, The University of Western Ontario, July 1, 2007-June 30, 2009.

  • Sasha Torres, Associate Professor, Faculty of Information and Media Studies, The University of Western Ontario, July 1, 2005-June 30, 2007.

  • David Spencer, Professor, Faculty of Information and Media Studies, The University of Western Ontario, July 1, 2003-June 30, 2005.

  • Anantha Babbili, visiting professor from Texas Christian University, Forth Worth TX, September 1, 2000-April 30, 2001.

  • John Downing, visiting professor from The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX, May 1, 2000-August 31, 2000.

  • John Lent, visiting professor from Temple University, Philadelphia PA, January 1, 2000-April 30, 2000.

About the Rogers Chair

The Rogers Chair of Studies in Journalism and New Information Technology reflects a commitment to interdisciplinary studies in media and information technology, with a base in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies. Support for the Chair is provided by an endowment from Rogers Communications Inc., announced in the summer of 1994, and from a long-standing commitment by the Office of the Secretary of State, Government of Canada. The first appointment to the Rogers Chair occurred in January 2000. Exciting new research and teaching possibilities have been created for the University, the Faculty, and its students.

Each term, a public panel, sponsored by the Rogers Chair of Studies in Journalism and New Information Technology, is organized featuring faculty from the three disciplines that make up FIMS: Journalism, Media Studies and Library & Information Science.

The goal of these panels is to encourage faculty and students to discuss how they are thinking about a topic of mutual concern; more specifically, how their professional backgrounds and personal biographies are shaping their views and thoughts.