Professional Speaker Assignment: Art Rascon (Extra Credit #3)

An Emmy Award winning reporter spoke on the importance of utilizing the gospel of Jesus Christ in a communications career.

Art Rascon, news anchor in Houston for the American Broadcasting Company, delivered a lecture Thursday at BYU after receiving the 2013 Alumni Achievement Award from the university’s College of Fine Arts and Communications.

He told his audience that his faith in God as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has helped him in his career as a journalist.

“God can make more of you than you can ever make of yourself,” Rascon said. “You must always be open to the direction of the Spirit.”

Rascon has covered conflicts for 28 years. He has reported major events such as Hurricane Katrina, the tsunami in Indonesia, the Virginia Tech shootings and the war in the Middle East. During his lecture, he gave several examples of instances during his career when he and his team were protected by following promptings from the Holy Ghost.

Rascon said he believes that it is also the responsibility of communications professionals to help others. “We live in a world that is filled with speculation, with problems and with confusion,” Rascon said. He emphasized that as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ, everything he does in disseminating information should be directly related to the gospel.

“Communications has the greatest and most profound effect on people throughout the world,” Rascon said. “What are we doing in our lives to ensure that…it will help influence people for good and not for evil?” 

Extra Credit Speaker Assignment #2 -- J.B. Haws

A BYU professor praised the media attention that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been exposed to in recent years.

J.B. Haws, an Assistant Professor in BYU’s Department of Church History and Doctrine, delivered a lecture on the university’s campus Thursday. In his address, he discussed the history and the current state of public affairs in The Church of Jesus Christ.

When questioned about the present state of public opinion concerning The Church of Jesus Christ, Haws stated that he is “hopeful” for the future and he said he believes that the organization has “articulate leaders” who will be able to overcome potential stumbling blocks in public opinion.

“All things considered,” Haws said. “It is a victory to simply be in the conversation.”

The professor acknowledged that the public perception of the organization has not always been positive. At the same time, he commended the efforts of the church’s different publicity teams over the years.

In particular, Haws celebrated the Homefront commercials produced by The Church of Jesus Christ between 1972 and 1983. These advertisements promoted the importance of the family and won numerous national awards. By 1976, The Church of Jesus Christ estimated that these commercials had received $31 million worth of free radio and television time.

“Perhaps no other initiative did more to link Mormonism to family values than did Homefront,” Haws said.

Other publicity boosts for The Church of Jesus Christ that Haws mentioned include the church’s pavilion in the New York World’s Fair from 1964 to 1965, the presidential campaigns of both George and Mitt Romney and, of course, the Osmond family. 

What Do Journalists Owe Their Audience?

In class, we discussed the need for journalists to commit to truth and verification so that they can avoid reporting something like this:

Image retrieved from http://allaboutroswell.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/chicken_little-sky-is-falling.jpg

To ensure accuracy in reporting, I would recommend three steps:

1. Rely on your own reporting. It is more important to have an accurate story than to be the first to report it. For journalists, it is crucial to get to the site of an incident, ask questions and record the answers that they discover. Piggybacking off of other reporters' stories will only lead to trouble.

2. Double-check your facts. All journalists make mistakes, but it is so much better to catch them before a story is released, rather than cleaning up the aftermath. Consider when NPR broke the news that congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords had been shot and killed in 2011. It made for a good story. The only problem? Giffords did not actually die. Although the news team quickly fixed the error, the false report spread like wildfire via social media. NPR did not double check their sources and they suffered for it.

A more recent example is that of the Navy Yard massacre last month. Some of the left-wing press were so excited to advance their anti-gun agenda, they did not check their facts as carefully as they should have. They reported that the attacker used an AR-15 assault rifle, the same one used in several other recent mass shootings. Unfortunately, this information was untrue. You can see Bill O'Reilly berate these reporters in this clip. 

3. Make sure that you tell the whole story. It is the job of a journalist to look at what they are writing about from all angles. Chicago TV newscaster Carol Marin taught, "When you sit down this Thanksgiving with your family and you have one of the classic family arguments-whether it's about politics or race or religion or sex-you remember that what you are seeing of that family dispute is seen from the position of your chair and your side of the table. And it will warp your view, because in those instances you are arguing your position...A journalist is someone who steps away from the table and tries to see it all." (Kovach & Rosenstiel, Elements of Journalism, p. 110)

Mark Twain said, "A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." Reporters need to be responsible. They should never allow a lie to outrun the truth.

* For this week's extra credit, I commented on McCall Mishler's blog from class!

The Journalist Worldview & News Gathering

"Journalists are people with opinions. You can't hide that." Freelance writer Gareth Harding said this to our class last week. Frankly, I have to agree with him. Yes, objectivity is something every reporter strives for, but it is impossible to be completely neutral because all journalists have different backgrounds, cultures and perspectives.

As we discussed in class, the Four Gospels in the New Testament all tell essentially the same story of Christ's ministry. But, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all had different backgrounds, experiences and perceptions and they each added their own insights. 

It's the same today with reporters. We all bring something different to the table. That being said, it is very important for journalists to stay clear of bias or prejudice. In the 2006 Duke lacrosse case, an African-American exotic dancer accused three white Duke students on the lacrosse team of raping her. Because of the way the story was covered, most of the world took her side and it became a racial issue. Despite their claims that they were innocent, the students were painted in a bad light by the media when they should have been given the benefit of the doubt. (Innocent until proven guilty, remember?) A year later, the woman's claims were ruled to be completely false.

In general, American broadcasting is considered to be biased. Former Democratic candidate for president, Howard Dean, called Fox News a "very expensive, incredible well-funded, right-wing propaganda organization." On the other side, New York Times writer Alessandra Stanley dubbed MSNBC as "Fox's liberal evil twin." 

Image retrieved from http://danieljmitchell.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/media-bias-1.jpg

A worldview is a good thing in reporting. It brings passion and humanity to the news. It means that journalists care. The important thing is to always produce news ethically and honestly, no matter what our worldviews are.

* For this week's extra credit, I posted a comment on Elizabeth Merrill's journalism blog. 

Professional Speaker Assignment: Sarah Coyne (EXTRA CREDIT)

A BYU Associate Professor spoke of the potential dangers, as well as a few possible benefits, that Disney princesses pose on the female attitude.

Dr. Sarah Coyne of the School of Family Life told her audience that “Disney princess movies are highly gender stereotyped” during her lecture last Thursday in Provo, Utah.

           

She and her team conducted a three-year study of 307 child participants to examine the effects that these Disney princesses have on young girls. They found that avid Disney princess fans showed a much higher level of gender stereotyping. Coyne said, “Disney is very much contributing to this whole girly-girl, pretty-pretty-princess culture” that is seen in the world today. 

The results also showed that girls who loved Disney princesses actually had better body image than others.  They also displayed more pro-social behavior, such as sharing and kind actions. However, the high level of pro-social behavior and positive body image did not last to the end of the three years.

Coyne was also curious about adults. She conducted a study of 90 women in college. Of that number, one-third identified themselves as “princesses.” The participants were given a set of challenges.  Coyne discovered that adults who consider themselves “princesses” had more gender stereotyped attitudes. They were also quicker to give up in their tasks.

“Should we want our kids to emulate Disney princesses?” Coyne asked. The professor was hesitant to condemn them. She said that these characters can be good role models. Coyne recommended that parents highlight characteristics such as kindness, courage and honesty in princesses for their children. 

Professional Speaker Assignment: Brian Stelter

A New York Times journalist said social media is empowering people in today’s world to interact with the government in ways never seen before.

Brian Stelter, 28, told BYU students that sites such as Facebook and Twitter are allowing the public to be involved in politics more than in the past during his lecture Wednesday in Provo, Utah. He said social media makes a “round-the-clock press conference” possible.  Leaders can easily deliver messages to the public and vice versa. “Governments are supposed to represent us,” Stelter said. “By responding to us through social media, elected officials have a much stronger connection to their audience.”

A leader can now relate to the public by means of a simple YouTube video. An example of this is President Barack Obama’s clip released in August to introduce the nation to his family’s new puppy.  Stelter called this a “powerful” method used by the president to connect with his constituents. And this connection goes two ways. Stelter said social media is raw material for politicians to keep informed on public opinion and what is happening on a global scale.

Stelter also voiced his concerns about social media.  In his opinion, it could be “narrowing people’s views” because they only see what certain individuals are posting. By relying on the opinions of friends with similar interests, a person may end up getting only one side of a story.

Despite these reservations, Stelter remained optimistic about the future of social media and communications. He emphasized that social media is a “compliment” for reporting. It certainly has been useful for Stelter, who admitted to meeting his girlfriend on Twitter.

JFK Assassination

Anyone who was alive on November 11, 1963 can remember where they were when they heard that President Kennedy had been shot. It was a tragedy that altered the nation in many ways. Some of the most important of these changes occurred in the field of broadcast journalism.

The JFK assassination raised concerns, for the first time, about what is appropriate content for TV news. The most complete recording of the incident was filmed by Abraham Zapruder with a home-movie camera. And it is not for the squeamish. The video clearly shows President Kennedy being shot in the head. The big question every news station had to ask was: How much do we show to the public?  The issue still continues today with crises like 9/11 and the Boston Marathon bombings.

Another big change in the wake of the assassination was that the news became more humanized. The event shook the entire country, including reporters.  And for the first time, the public saw that. An example of this is CBS's Walter Cronkite, who fought back tears as he announced the confirmation of the president's death.

Above all, the JFK assassination caused Americans to truly consider that news seen on television has the same credibility and importance as news found on print. People realized, while watching the details of the story unfold for the next four days, that live television gave them updated information faster than ever in the past. As late as 1950, only 10% of households in America had TV sets.  By 1965, just two years after the assassination of the president, that number had risen to 94%.

Image retrieved from http://i.lv3.hbo.com/assets/images/documentaries/jfk-in-his-own-words/jfk-in-his-own-words-1024.jpg

November 11, 1963 has been called "the day that changed America." I don't necessarily agree with that; however, I would call it "the day that changed television."