Access: Storytelling in the Modern Media

With superficial sound bites, scripted promos, talking heads, and the 24-hour news cycle, it’s hard not to be skeptical or indifferent of the present-day media. In this ephemeral landscape, how do documentary films that focus on recent history differ from cable and the mainstream press? What form will have a longer and more significant impact?

New America welcomes Greg Barker and Ben Rhodes to discuss the nature of long-form documentary storytelling; its differences and challenges when compared with conventional media; and the motivations behind the characters who choose to participate in it. ASU Future of War Fellow Greg Barker is a prolific documentary filmmaker who looks for strong personal narratives that illuminate the complexities and moral ambiguities of global politics and war. Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications in the Obama Administration, is a cast member of Barker’s most recent project, the HBO Documentary Film The Final Year. The film is a sweeping insider’s account of President Obama’s foreign policy team during their last year in office. Rhodes joined Obama’s first Presidential campaign in 2007 as the foreign policy speechwriter and continued to serve in that role, as well as one of the President’s key advisers, until the end of Obama's presidency. He is the Co-Chair of National Security Action, Chief International Advisor at the Obama Foundation, and publishing his first book, The World as It Is: A Memoir of the Obama White House, this June.

Join them, moderator Peter Bergen, and the New America Fellows Program for a comprehensive conversation on the essential qualities of modern storytelling.

Participants:

Greg Barker, @gjbarker
ASU Future of War Fellow, New America
Director, The Final Year

Ben Rhodes, @brhodes
Co-Chair, National Security Action
Former Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications and Speechwriting, Obama Administration

Moderator:

Peter Bergen, @peterbergencnn
Vice President, New America
Director, International Security Program, New America

Lunch will be provided.
Discussion will begin promptly at 1 pm.