Bill Benoit to Deliver 2009 21st Century Corps of Discovery Lecture

Bill Benoit, professor in the Department of Communication, will deliver the 2009 21st Century Corps of Discovery Lecture on September 23, at 3:30 p.m., in Keller Auditorium. At the beginning of each academic year, this lecture "commemorates the contributions of Lewis and Clark by featuring an outstanding MU professor who inspires and brings together the university community." Nationally known for his expertise on political campaigns and image repair, Benoit will discuss his research on campaigns and information he has discovered about them of which people might not be aware.

"Campaigns can make a difference for who wins elections," says Benoit, "and campaigns can inform voters. When you look at the elections of 2000 and 2004, I don't think that Gore or Kerry would have done the same things in office as Bush did. I'm not saying either one would have been better; it just would have been different. This affects our lives, never more so than when we have a war on terrorism and the economic problems we are facing today. Campaigns help us choose our leaders and allow us to have general input into what direction our government will take. I hope it will be inspiring to hear about the campaign messages people use to seek office."

Benoit has analyzed content from every election between 1952 and 2000. He has studied every acceptance speech, keynote speech, TV spot, radio ad, primary debate, direct-mail piece and, in recent years, every Web site from major party candidates.

His research debunks some common myths about elections. For example, most people think campaigns are negative, but Benoit finds that the messages delivered by the candidates themselves are positive. The negativity comes from political parties, political action groups and news coverage. The media, he says, focus on the "horse race" - who is ahead in the polls, who is behind and where the candidates are going next. These topics don't necessarily tell the public who is the best presidential candidate.

The priorities of the candidates and media are also different. Typically, candidates talk about their policies more than their character, but the media will talk about the "horse race," then character and they will discuss policy last. Benoit thinks that media often focus on negative aspects of a campaign to appeal to a wider audience.

Benoit's other area of research is image repair: what people do and companies say when they are accused or suspected of wrongdoing. He has studied events as recent as President Bush's Katrina speech at Jackson Square and as far back as the Tylenol scare in 1982. Upcoming research projects could include Rob Blagojevich and the lead paint toy scandal from China in 2007. Benoit will present a paper at the National Communications Association in the fall about the television commercials that feature an Apple™ computer representative and a PC and Windows™ operating systems representative comically debating their differences.

He is currently working on a book of campaign messages from the 2008 elections. "I am appreciative of the dean, chancellor, provost and chair of the department for their support of my research on this book," says Benoit.

He, along with his wife Pam Benoit, vice provost for advanced studies and dean of the graduate school, received their undergraduate degrees from Ball State University, master's degrees from Central Michigan University and their doctorates from Wayne State University. They taught at Miami University in Ohio and at Bowling Green State University before coming to MU in 1984.

Benoit is one of the 10 most-published scholars of all time in communication studies. In prestigious journals, he is the second most published. Benoit is also proud to be one of the most frequently cited scholars in the communication field.

"It's nice to know that I'm not only able to publish my research, but that other people find it useful to cite for their scholarship," says Benoit.

When he is not teaching or conducting research, Benoit listens to rock and roll and blues music. He also collects ancient Greek coins. He has around 100 of them – some date back to 500 B.C. This interest began when he taught Plato and Aristotle classes. Some of the first coins ever made featured Athena, goddess of wisdom, on the front and her bird, the owl, on the back. These designs remained unchanged in ancient Greece for over three hundred years.

by Laura Lindsey
College of Arts and Science

Links:

Bill Benoit
Department of Communication
PoliticalCampaigns.missouri.edu