Public Education in the Mass Media: Nafional Fann Radio Forum on CBC Radio Eleanor Beattie A Thesis The Department Communication Studies Presented in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Concordia University Montreal, Quebec, Canada 8 Eleanor Beattie, 1999 National Library Bibliothèque nationale du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services senrices bibliographiques The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Lhrary of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prêter, di~6tl'buerou copies of this thesis in microfom, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/nlm, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or othewise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the auîhor's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. A5STRACT Public Education in the Mass Media: National Fann Radio Forum on CBC Radio Eleanor Beattie, Ph.D. Concordia University, 1999 The weekly radio program, National Fatm Radio Forum (1940 - 1965) on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is the site of an examination of civic education in the mass media. The archived documentation of NFRF forms the corpus of my research. The subjed of civic education is analyzed through a rhetorical examination of programs on the subject of health delivery, the latter chosen because it shares, with civic education, the topics of cooperativisrn and equity of access. I argue that the training of citizens in the habits, responsibilities and cornpetencies of public Me, elements essential for authentic democracy, demands a marnage of govemment, institutions and civic organizations. In particular, a developed and supportive public broadcaster is essential to facilitating the process of civic education. The site of examination, mile a historical forum, suggests a number of possibilities and problematics that enable us to rethink civic education in contemporary Canadian mass media. iii To Mary Beattie and Joshua Burston ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I thank my advisor, Dr. Maurice Charland, for his encouragement and enthusiasm throughout this project. I thank the founding members of NFRF who left their papers to the National Archives of Canada, and who generously supplied me with further documentation and contacts when I asked. The National Archives is a wonderkil resource, a great boon to our historical memory. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation gave me leave to go into their archives, and, through their auspices, I am grateful and honoured to have received the Davidson-Dunton Scholarship. Finally. I thank my family and friends who encouraged me on my way, and I especially thank Cathy Busby who happily suggested that we two form a thesis support group. A0 Archives of Ontario AS Alex Sim Papers, NAC CAAE Canadian Association of Adult Education CAAE-A0 CAAE Papers at Archives of Ontario CBC Canadian Broadcasting Corporation CBC NAC CBC Papers at the National Archives of Canada CBC TOR CBC Papers at CBC, Toronto Archives CCEC Canadian Council of Education for Citizenship CCC Cross Country Checkup CCC Canadian Citizenship Council CF Citizens' Forum CFA Canadian Federation of Agriculture CFA NAC Canadian Federation of Agriculture Papers, NAC FF Farm Radio Forum FFG Fann Forum Guide HA Hamy Avison Papers, NAC JPC Joint Planning Commission NFRF National Fann Radio Forum NM Neil Morrison Papers, NAC OISE Ontario lnstitute for Studies in Education os Orville J. W. Shugg Papers, NAC NAC National Archives of Canada WlB Wartirne Information Board vii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBRNlATlONS ......................................... vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................... viii CHAPTER 1. SlTUATlNG PUBLIC EDUCATION ............................ 1 Introduction .............................................. 1 Situating National Farm Radio Forum ........................... 8 Adult and Civic Education: The Liberal vs . the Welfare Model ........35 Academic Institutions lnitiate Public Education Projects .......... 41 Enter Radio: The Redefining of Public Education and Broadcasting . 48 Wartime Coordination: Negotiating Citizenship ................. 51 "Community": The Ground of Public Education ..................57 Notes .................................................. 69 2 . THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RADIO FORUM GENRE .......... 72 Historical Inspirations: The Greek Polis and the Roman Forum ..... 72 Distinguishing the Forum in Relationship to the Polis .............74 The Necessity of Public Institutions for Forum Discourse: Sedirnents of Social Memory ............................... 76 The Revitalization of a Democratic Polis: Challenging Elite Democracy through Authentic Participation ..................... 81 The Rhetoncal Genre: Responding to Recurrent Social Needs ..... 89 viii Radio: The Centrality of OralitylAurality and Technological Refmmings ............................. 95 The Radio Forum in Canada: The Stniggle to lnstitute the Genre ...100 Notes ................................................. 112 3: THE CRENION OF THE RADIO FORUM GENRE: THE WAR YEARS ....................................... 115 Introduction ............................................ 115 Breaking the Ground for the Founding of NFRF: Three Projects ...11 9 From Community Clinic to NFRF: The Prescriptive Construction of a National Community out of Local Forums ....... 131 Building Community through Rhetorical Drama ................. 135 Building Community through Action .........................-150 NFRF Stakes a Position in National Politics: An Introduction to the "Health Can Be Planned" Series .......... 159 Notes ................................................ -187 4: THE EFFORT TO ENTRENCH PUBLIC EDUCATION IN A POST-WAR ECONOMY Introduction: NFRF Enters the Post-War Era ................... 192 Can Cooperativism and Voluntarism Survive in a National Health Plan?.................................. 194 What Do We Need to Do to Entrench Public Education? .........A99 NFRF Restakes Its Claim on A National Health Plan ............. 210 The Interrogation of Public Education ........................ 222 Divided We Fall: The Convergence of Themes around the Formation of Leadership ........................ -244 Acquiescing to the Loss of Local Deliberative Space: NFRF1954-1965 ........................................ 249 Notes ................................................. 260 5: THE PROSPECTS FOR CNlC EDUCATION ................... 267 Returning to the Source: Idealisrn and the Archive ..............267 The Legacy of NFRF: The Possibilities for Mass Media Civic Education ...............269 Fighting for the CBC: Where is the Backbone of Public Education?. .277 The Thomy Question of Place and Space for Public Education .... 281 Notes ................................................. 290 APPENDlX 1: Men of the Soi1 ...................................... 293 APPENDIX II: €-Mail Exchange with Cross Country Checkup .............294 BlBLlOGRAPHY ................................................ 295 CHAPTER 1: SITUATING PUBLIC €DUCATION Introduction This thesis examines the possibilities for public or civic education through the mass media. I start with the premise that civic education, the conscious training of citizens in the habits, responsibilities and cornpetencies for public Iife. is essential for authentic democratic govemance. In ternis of the sense of ounelves as citizens of a democratic nation, the mass media play a two-pronged role: on the one hand, because of their dominance through many technologies, the rnass media have bewme the common space of citizens and proclairn themselves as an important part of the polis, the site of speaking and deliberation; on the other hand, the speaking that is done by citizens through the mass media falls short of that democratic promise, dorninated as it is by expert opinion and public displays of the personal and the nondeliberative. This thesis poses the question of how the mass media can serve the political educative process. I examine National Farm Radio Forum (NFRF). a long-terni radio program that used and integrated familiar forms and values to address a particular audience. However, NFRF was more than a combination of its familiar 'material' elements: the radio broadcast, written +materialand organized local forum groups; it was a project that attempted ta constnict its audience as participating citizens, responsible for their civic education through listening, discussion and being adive largely in their local communities. NFRF is informed not just by its purpose but aiso by a vafiety of constraints. Its particular construction as an educative radio forum can be understood as a genre whose 2 study will allow us to see what the constraints and the possibilities are for further work in public education through the mass media. The mass media seem unsuited to public education in part because of their diffused and omnipresent charader; they are everywhere and yet la& a definite place. Our ideal models of democracy are in contrast based on the idea of the town hall meeting characterized by a definite physical site that served as an educative forum