By Lian Bunny
Co-Photo Editor
C-SPAN 3 aired a panel moderated by Chris Mackowski, Ph.D., St. Bonaventure professor of journalism and mass communication, last Saturday, Oct. 1.
The panel, titled “Great Attacks on the Civil War,” took place in August at the Third Annual Emerging Civil War Symposium at Stevenson Ridge, in Spotsylvania, Virginia.
Emerging Civil War is a blog, acting as a platform for sharing original scholarship related to the American Civil War, according to emergingcivilwar.com.
Mackowski said as a historian in residence at the Ridge and a co-founder of Emerging Civil War paired with his media experience, he earned the job as moderator and emcee by default.
According to Mackowski, C-SPAN has a Civil War-themed spot to fill every Saturday at 6 p.m., and it’s always looking for new content. Emerging Civil War members invited C-SPAN the first year, and it came to tape some of the talks and then continued to come each year.
Mackowski moderated the panel discussion, which included Daniel Davis, managing editor of Emerging Civil War; Steward Henderson, a Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania historian; Christopher Kolakowski, director of MacArthur Memorial; James Ogden, a Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park historian; Dan Welch, coordinator of Gettysburg Foundation education programs; and Kristopher White, co-founder of Emerging Civil War.
As moderator, he said his main goal was to facilitate the process of inquiry and to present the Emerging Civil War well.
He said moderating relates to his job at St. Bonaventure as a professor.
“The thing I love about being in the classroom is when you’re having a good discussion about something and everyone’s talking and you start to see the light bulbs going on over people’s heads,” he said. “They’re learning, they didn’t realize they were learning because they’re so engaged in that process of discussion and inquiry. So I think good moderation is really important for giving people the chance to ask the questions that move them to those light bulb moments.”
While Mackowski said he wasn’t nervous in front of the camera, having C-SPAN there did add some challenges. He said he had to make sure he didn’t stand in front of the cameras as he moved around the room handing the microphone to people. He had to think of the audio levels and to make sure he wasn’t standing in the dark.
Although C-SPAN’s broadcast was excellent exposure for Emerging Civil War, Mackowski said he didn’t watch himself on television.
“It’s sort of like reading a book that you’ve written and you open it up for the first time and the first thing you see is a typo that will jump off the page at you,” he said. “You’re horrified. I sort of feel like watching myself on TV is the same sort of thing, where I’ll watch myself and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh my button is unbuttoned,’ or ‘What’s hanging out of my pocket?’”
Being an election year, Mackowski said it’s Super Bowl season for C-SPAN. He said C-SPAN’s crew was really tired and worn out, but still came up and made time for the symposium.
“So the fact that they still came up and made time for us, that was really nice of them to do for us. And the fact that we’re getting so much air time right now at the height of campaign season is also advantageous for us, and it also speaks well to C-SPAN that they’re treating us so well.”
bunnyla13@bonaventure.edu
