{"id":139947,"date":"2025-01-28T21:40:22","date_gmt":"2025-01-29T02:40:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=139947"},"modified":"2025-01-28T21:57:19","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T02:57:19","slug":"v-spehar-of-under-the-desk-news-to-share-views-on-nontraditional-media-at-feb-6-compelling-perspectives-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=139947","title":{"rendered":"V Spehar of Under the Desk News to Share Views on Nontraditional Media at Feb. 6 Compelling Perspectives Event"},"content":{"rendered":"

V Spehar of Under the Desk News (@underthedesknews) will be the third speaker in Lehigh University\u2019s 2024-2025\u00a0Compelling Perspectives series<\/a>\u00a0on February 6 at 6 p.m. in Zoellner Arts Center.<\/p>\n

President Joseph J. Helble \u201982 and Spehar will participate in a discussion focusing on the role of nontraditional media in contemporary society. A brief Q&A with the audience will follow.<\/p>\n

Nontraditional media\u2014encompassing digital platforms, social media, influencers, podcasts, streaming services and other non-mainstream channels\u2014reflects rapid growth, diversification and increasing influence on how individuals consume news around the globe. Nontraditional media is increasingly shaping public discourse, entertainment and consumer behavior. It has inherent challenges, including the spread of misinformation, regulation and content placement among complex algorithms.<\/p>\n

Spehar is a Rochester-based citizen journalist, award-winning podcaster and online personality who has built a following of more than 3 million subscribers on the video-sharing platform TikTok.<\/p>\n

Specializing in short-form content, Spehar provides brief recaps of notable headlines. They launched \u201cUnder the Desk News<\/a>\u201d on TikTok in April 2020 with the goal of making news media less intimidating and easier to understand. Spehar began delivering one-minute news segments while under a desk. The videos quickly attracted a bipartisan audience.<\/p>\n

In 2022, Spehar launched \u201cV Interesting,\u201d a long-form podcast with original reporting that tackles various topics such as Gen Z voter engagement. The podcast has been recognized by GLADD, a nonprofit organization focused on LGBTQ+ advocacy and cultural change.<\/p>\n

Their reporting has taken them to the press room of the 2023 State of the Union to hosting the NBC livestream of the Macy\u2019s Thanksgiving Day Parade to speaking at UNESCO summits. \u201cV Interesting\u201d debuted in the top 10 news podcasts of June 2022 and has held a steady place in the top 25 news podcasts since. In 2023, Spehar received a Webby Special Achievement Award for their concise and compassionate reporting.<\/p>\n

The first Compelling Perspectives event on the 2024-2025 topic welcomed veteran journalist Katie Couric to campus in September to discuss the role of traditional media in contemporary society. In December, longtime news editor Marty Baron \u201976 \u201976G \u201914H explored the impact of traditional media during the recent U.S. presidential election.<\/p>\n

Advance registration is required for this event. Space is limited;\u00a0please register<\/a>\u00a0to reserve your spot.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Information provided to TVL by:
\nEmily Collins
\nMedia Relations Specialist, Lehigh University<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

V Spehar of Under the Desk News (@underthedesknews) will be the third speaker in Lehigh University\u2019s 2024-2025\u00a0Compelling Perspectives series\u00a0on February 6 at 6 p.m. in Zoellner Arts Center. President Joseph … Continue reading V Spehar of Under the Desk News to Share Views on Nontraditional Media at Feb. 6 Compelling Perspectives Event<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":139948,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-139947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/V-SPEHAR.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139947"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=139947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/139948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=139947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=139947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=139947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}