CORRECTIONS APPENDED

One of the most popular classes at Harvard is now poised to get an even bigger audience.

Moral Reasoning 22: “Justice,” the noted class that drew 872 students last fall, debuts as a 12-part series on public television stations across the nation later this month.

The show, called “Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?” will feature content from 24 course lectures recorded by WGBH, a Boston public broadcasting station, during the 2005-2006 school year. [SEE CORRECTION BELOW]

Content from the 50-minute lectures was whittled down to 30-minute segments, according to course head and Government Professor Michael J. Sandel.

“I reviewed the editing to make sure that the academic content was preserved and not distorted by the editing process,” Sandel wrote in an e-mail to The Crimson.

Brigid Sullivan, the executive producer of the series and a vice-president of WGBH, said she has wanted to create a show featuring Sandel’s class for over 20 years but had been prevented from seeing the project to fruition because of funding constraints.

“I think the Socratic method is extremely effective for television,” she said. “Offering the public a sort of front row seat to a Harvard course is an exciting opportunity.”

Though the series features content taken directly from lectures, students were not required to participate in filming to enroll in the course.

Students could opt to sit in a “no-filming zone,” wrote Sandel, where their participation—including image and voice content—would be omitted.

Despite the opportunity to exclude themselves from the footage, most students elected to participate in the series, according to Sandel.

“Students were generally enthusiastic about the filming,” he wrote.

According to Sarah E. Sears ’10, who took the course last year, Justice classes are available on the internet for alumni, and the give-and-take of the class’ lectures could translate into television better than the average course.

“People don’t always say the most intelligent things,” she said. “I guess that could make for interesting television.”

Sandel received no additional compensation from Harvard for appearing in the series, but he did collect what he called “a modest consulting fee” for his editing work for WGBH.

In addition to the television series, Sandel and Sullivan noted that interactive online features will accompany the program to give viewers the chance to participate in the debate.

“This is an experiment in using the Internet to open access to the Harvard classroom, and to promote public dialog about hard moral and political questions,” Sandel wrote.

The show premiers Sept. 21 on WGBH and will appear weekly on Sundays at 5 a.m. and 7 p.m. [SEE CORRECTION BELOW]

—Staff Writer Laura G. Mirviss can be reached at lmirviss@fas.harvard.edu.

CORRECTIONS

The Sept. 11 news article "'Justice' To Make T.V. Debut" incorrectly stated that WGBH recorded lectures in Moral Reasoning 22: “Justice.” In fact, those lectures were recorded by Harvard and later provided to WGBH.

The article also gave the wrong date for the series premiere. The show will first air on Sunday, Sept. 20—not Sept. 21.