Listening for democracy: In conversation with Anton Enus

UTS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) will host Anthea Garman, Professor in the School of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University in South Africa in conversation with South African-born SBS World News presenter, Anton Enus on 9 March.

Professor Garman will talk about how thinking about the concept of listening has illuminated how South Africans use their mediated public sphere in the era of democracy there. She will talk about the value of focusing on listening (as opposed to speaking) as a way to understand how Parliament listens to its citizens, how a local municipality listens to its poor residents, how universities listen to their protesting students and how activists listen to those whose cause they champion. Focusing on listening, Professor Garman argues, raise questions about how listening theory becomes a useful method in the context of post-apartheid South Africa. What about the inevitable and often intractable power dimensions of a communicative interaction? How does listening theory account for power, when the overarching intention is change?

Anthea Garman is a Professor in the School of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University in South Africa. She teaches journalism writing, long form journalism and academic writing. She is the author of “Antjie Krog and the Postapartheid Public Sphere: Speaking Poetry to Power” and co-editor of “Media and Citizenship: Between Marginalisation and Participation”. She leads the project “Licence to Talk”.

Anton Enus is an Australian news presenter, currently co-host of SBS World News. Enus has been a news presenter and journalist for almost 40 years. Enus' achievements include the CNN World Report award for best international report. Before leaving South Africa, Enus presented the country's major evening national news bulletin for the SABC.