Media leaders convene
Ethics Institute hosts panel
From press freedom to the changing nature of media to ethical decision making, things get interesting when media leaders converge.
Converge they did Thursday night as the Northern Plains Ethics Institute hosted “What is Media’s Role in a Civil Society?” — a public forum featuring Paul Nelson, professor and chair of communication at NDSU; Peggy Bellows, editor of The Forum; Charley Johnson, KVLY-TV 11 general manager and news director; and Bill Thomas, director of radio for North Dakota Public Radio.
The panelists spoke and answered questions for a better part of two hours in Beckwith Recital Hall.
“ A free and independent press is almost universally regarded as essential to democracy,” Nelson began. “From Rush Limbaugh to the editors of the Wall Street Journal to the editors of the New York Times, almost everyone can agree on that statement.”
From there, though, things get more complicated, he said.
“ Recently, the press reported that our government … was spying on Americans who placed international calls,” Nelson said. “That’s a case of where the government took some liberties with what they’re able to do … but guess what happened? They were mad at the person who revealed it.
“There’s actually a search going on now for the whistleblower who told the press that our own government was listening in on our conversations.”
Nelson said reporting and finding the news is “tough business,” especially when reporters can go to jail for not revealing their sources or other material.
“ The Constitution does not guarantee the right to know — it guarantees the right to a free press,” Nelson said. “There is a difference. It infers a right to know, but that isn’t clearly drawn out.”
Instead, court cases set precedent, he said.
Peggy Bellows, editor of The Forum, followed Nelson’s comments with a discussion of the changing nature of print media.
“ Traditionally, the role of a newspaper in civil discourse or civil society has been to inform, to educate, to entertain, to be a watchdog of government and to debate the issue of the day,” Bellows said. “For more than 300 years, newspapers, pamphlets and magazines were pretty much the only people who did that.
“But in the last 50, 60, 70 years, the world has gone crazy. Now there’s radio, there’s TV, there’s Internet, and people have a lot of different ways to get information. The very nature of information is changing.”
Newspapers have had to reorient themselves and create conversation, Bellows said.
“ We need to know more than what and who — we need to know why and ‘What does it mean to me?’” she said.
Charley Johnson, KVLY-TV 11 general manager and news director, said there is a big difference between broadcast and print media.
He said while television is an important part of people’s information diets, different media should be utilized to expand horizons.
“ I read The Forum every morning while I’m eating my bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios,” he said.
Bill Thomas, director of radio for North Dakota Public Radio, spoke about the roots and role of public radio.
“ American culture is noted around the world for being a highly commercial culture,” he said. “But there are some things the commercial marketplace doesn’t quite work for, and that was one the progressive ideas (behind public radio).”
In 1919, a sonnet was written extolling the virtues of radio.
“ People were really excited about radio back then,” Thomas joked.
Thomas went on to share the various missions of public radio, including its core values: a love of lifelong learning, substance, curiosity, credibility, accuracy, honesty, respect, purpose, idealism, humor, civility and belief in civil discourse, among others.
In recent years, public radio’s audience has increased, while commercial radio’s audience has decreased.
“ Public radio sees its role as pulling together different voices and different views,” Thomas said.
After the panelists gave their comments, audience members asked questions dealing with the journalist’s gatekeeping mission, “positive” and “negative” news, competition, advertising and more.
One question dealt with whether to show graphic images, such as kidnapping tapes, in the media.
“ It would be the ultimate censorship of sorts (not to show the images),” Johnson said. “We debate how much to show and what exactly to show, but we’re not in the business to keep secrets.”
Thursday’s panel was part of an ongoing series of panels hosted by the Northern Plains Ethics Institute. The mission of the institute is to “engage diverse people, united by social, geographic and economic imperatives, in dialogue and actions that model a civil, responsive society.”