By Juan S. Larrosa-Fuentes, September 15, 2025<\/p>\n
Last week, I participated in an international political science conference where scholars from around the world discussed the progress of their research. The overall tone of the event was bleak: reflections on democratic backsliding across different regions of the globe abounded. To make matters worse, the academic debate was shaken by the news of the assassination of activist Kirk in the United States. This tragic event will very likely further inflame public tensions in that country.<\/p>\n
What stood out this time, however, was the emphasis placed by many presentations, panels, and roundtables on the current role of teaching. Typically, such forums focus on presenting research results. This time, by contrast, teaching was framed as a central pathway for building communities and governments structured around values such as justice, equity, diversity, and pluralism. Some concluded that, more often than not, rather than producing increasingly sophisticated diagnoses of political crises, the most excellent impact universities can have is through the everyday formation of students who will eventually shape collective decision-making.<\/p>\n
From universities\u2014and also from other educational institutions\u2014we share the responsibility of reclaiming the value of teaching. Our work involves preparing individuals to take on responsibilities in government, civil society, the media, and various community spaces. Educating them with the values mentioned above means preparing them to deliberate about the multiple ways we might choose to govern ourselves.<\/p>\n
For those of us who teach communication, political communication, and journalism, the task carries an additional weight: we must cultivate literacy in the face of the epistemic dysfunctions of our time. The challenge is to train people who are experts at reading, deciphering, and even hacking through misinformation, propaganda, and disinformation. Training professionals capable of producing quality information, verifying data, and clearly explaining public issues within their communities has become a fundamental task for sustaining our political communities.<\/p>\n
This is why teaching political communication today is more than just an academic endeavor: it is an ethical and political commitment to the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"