An award-winning journalist will speak at NIU tonight about corporate media.

Liane Casten, media critic and president of Chicago Media Watch, will speak at 7:30 p.m. today at the Holmes Student Center’s Illinois Room about “Corporate Media: Beating the Drums of War.”

The presentation is sponsored by the department of communication and the DeKalb Interfaith Network for Peace and Justice.

Lois Self, chair of NIU’s department of communication, will introduce Casten at tonight’s presentation.

“I have never seen her speak before and I am really looking forward to it,” Self said. “I think it will be a very stimulating evening.”

She described the presentation as Casten trying to arouse attention of the media’s role in the present position of Iraq and the current economic situation.

Self’s goal for the evening is to show the audience a critical view of how the media affects society. Self hopes that Casten will incorporate a large amount of international media influences on society, but isn’t sure Casten is aiming toward that.

“It wasn’t my idea to bring Casten to Northern,” Self said. “I was approached by the Interfaith Network, which many of the communication faculty and students are actively involved in, to help sponsor her. They believed that the communication department would be directly interested in her speaking, and I agreed.”

Casten is an award-winning journalist with publication credits in national periodicals such as The Nation, Ms. and Business Ethics. Locally, she has contributed to both the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times.

“My book, ‘Breast Cancer: Poisons, Profits and Prevention,’ was the result of a three-year journey,” Casten said. “First came a cover story in Ms. on the environmental connection with the disease. With so much additional information, it was just a question of time before this book became a reality.

“The battle to save my husband’s life from the ravages of cancer led me to understand the incestuous connection among polluting industries and the media,” she said. “The media, now owned by major polluters, locks out the dialogue about the environment, about chemicals that are a major cause of cancer, about genetically engineered foods, about anything that will impact negatively on profits.”

Casten’s second book, an expose of criminal corporations, will be published in early 2003. She also has written four documentary films, taught gifted programs at a Chicago public high school and taught a college-level creative writing class.

“These days I continue to write and speak across the country and in Canada to groups and gatherings on the media, politics, public health and the environment,” Casten said.

Self thinks the audience will consist of a wide variety of both faculty and students.

“I would think it should appeal to a wide variety of people,” Self said. “I would assume that anyone working in the media or who has any concern with democracy would also be in attendance. I just hope there’s a good turnout and discussion that follows. I think she will put an interesting perspective on the media which should engage into a good discussion.”

Casten further discussed her current working environment.

“Presently, I am co-founder and president of Chicago Media Watch, which is a volunteer watchdog group that monitors the media for bias, distortions and omissions,” Casten said. “CMW publishes a quarterly newsletter, which I publish, and convenes biannual media conferences to bring vital information to a growing list of members concerned with the consequences of corporate ownership. The media pollutes our minds and our bodies, but remains silent about their crimes and the crimes of government. Such control bodes ill for an informed citizenry and for democracy, which thrives on information and healthy debate.”

The presentation is free and open to the public. Self thinks it will be a lively evening for everyone.