DANBURY, CONN. — Dr. Eva Berger, an Israeli academic specializing in media history and well-known commentator on press and film issues in the Israeli media, will discuss photojournalism during wartime in a talk on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2014, at Western Connecticut State University.

Berger’s lecture, “War as Routine: Photojournalism and Cultural Values in Israel,” will be at 6 p.m. in Room 125 of the Science Building on the university’s Midtown campus, 181 White St. in Danbury. Admission will be free and the public is invited to attend. The lecture will be sponsored by the WCSU School of Arts and Sciences and the Center for the Study of Culture and Values.

Berger, who holds a Ph.D. in media ecology from New York University, teaches media history and criticism as an assistant professor and senior lecturer at the College of Management Academic Studies in Rishon Letzion, Israel. From 2006 to 2012 she served as dean of the college’s School of Media Studies, and she has been a member of the college’s Academic Board since 2006. She appears frequently in the Israeli media as a commentator about issues relating to media, public relations and film history.

In describing the theme of her lecture, Berger remarked that examinations of the impact of photography during past conflicts including World War II and the Vietnam War have demonstrated that “photojournalism has a powerful place in cultural narratives about war.” She noted that Israel also has a strong tradition of photojournalism, which played a pivotal role in the founding of the nation in 1948, but she observed that contemporary photojournalism in Israel has shown little evolution.

“Rather than evolving from nation building to a more critical ‘watchdog’ approach, war photography has remained startlingly consistent over the last 60 years,” Berger said. “This stagnation in photojournalism may have limited the Israeli public’s ability to imagine and discuss the military role in supporting a nation at peace.”

Berger’s most recent book is “The Communication Panacea: Pediatrics and General Semantics,” published in 2014. She also has published numerous journal articles and book chapters on media topics as well as media commentaries in the Israeli national press. She is a member of numerous boards and service organizations including the Organization for the Advancement of Women in the Visual Arts, the Israel Peace Initiative, the Israel Press Council, the Institute for Mediation and Conflict Resolution, and the Institute of General Semantics. She also has served as an adviser and consultant to the Israeli Foreign Ministry and Ministry of Culture.

For more information, contact the Office of University Relations at (203) 837-8486.

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