This is in answer to Steve's question if anyone had a similar experience with undergrads seeming disconnected from the war. I had a very different experience with my senior level mass comm & social issues course last night. I'm in basketball crazed Kentucky so I began the class by asking what they thought of CBS cutting into basketball coverage to report on the war. It was my plan to discuss war coverage in general based on a lecture that highlights how coverage has changed over the years, however I was surprised that students quickly moved in this direction on their own so I was able to work the points into conversation rather than using the lecture. While a couple students did seem to prefer to remain silent, nearly three-quarters of the class participated. This is a rather diverse class in terms of life experience and political views, although not diverse in ethnic backgrounds. Several students do have family members overseas. I did set a ground rule that we would not debate whether the military action was "right," but we would instead concentrate on the nature of the media coverage such as whether it was creating realities or reporting facts, how U.S. media reports differed from reports in other nations, and on items such as "media management" by the military. The pros/cons of embedded reporters and the steady feed of nearly synchronous reporting were the hottest topics. It was interesting to learn how students assessed the value and personal impact of coverage on the internet versus on television. Several noted that television coverage was more like "entertainment" similar to reality shows (a topic we've discussed before) but when they went online it was to get the facts. No one had used the internet to look at coverage based in another nation; basically they all went to a familiar news agency such as CNN. However, they were all interested in exploring these differences during class. I really had the feeling that these particular students were relieved to have the opportunity to talk about the war even though many limited themselves to only small "bites" of news each day. I wonder if part of the reason for engagement is because these students are about to step into the world of professional communication versus being introductory level students. Or perhaps it is because the class does have a wide range of students in terms of age and life experience. Whatever the reason, it was refreshing to see them demonstrate so much critical thinking and interest in a sobering topic. Suzie ************************************************************ Suzie Allard, Presidential Fellow University of Kentucky (859)257-3771 College of Communications and Information Studies 520 King Library South, Lexington, KY 40506-0039 e-mail: slalla0@uky.edu homepage: http://sweb.uky.edu/~slalla0/ ***********************************************************