Group debates bias in media, topic coverage

by Becky Quayle
Vanguard Staff Writer

April 25, 2005 —

On April 6, a new group on campus called the Students for Political Awareness (SFPA) sponsored a symposium entitled "The Role of the Media in the Political Process" in the Rhea Miller Recital Hall.

Panelists included six local TV and media personalities. The facilitator, James Randall Johnson, is a Midland attorney and a professor of political science at SVSU. Participants from local TV stations were Kathy Hoekstra, from NBC Newscenter 25 WEYI, and Sam Merrill from WNEM TV5.

Andy Rapp, who is a professor at Northwood University and host of the PBS Q-TV show "Currently Speaking," was also present along with editorial page editors from two local papers, Terrance Smith of the Saginaw News, and Clark Hughes of The Bay City Times.

The program began with an hour-long facilitated discussion about the role of media in the political process. During this time, Johnson asked questions and the rest of the panel discussed their opinions and answers.

The first question that Johnson asked was how the media chooses what should be considered newsworthy. The panelists had some very different views concerning how to determine what should and should not be reported.

"You decide what your readers need to know, then you consider what they want to know, then the fun stuff comes in," said Hughes. Hoekstra agreed with Hughes, but added that it is important to also consider whether potential stories are entirely true as a basis for their newsworthiness.

Rather than placing emphasis on information followed by entertainment as Hughes stated, Rapp felt that there should be an equal balance of both.

"My personal philosophy is that stories should educate and entertain. It's a balancing act," he said, emphasizing that ideally there should not be more of one or the other. "If you have wonderful information, but no one wants to read it, then what good is it? But, if you have too much entertainment it becomes a stand-up routine."

Johnson's next question concerned mergers and acquisitions of the media after the 1996 Telecommunications Act was implicated. The purpose of the act is to allow competition to enter into the communications business. He asked whether or not the panel agreed with those who claim that media corporations cause media coverage to be worse.

Almost all of the panelists were able to agree with each other, saying that it has not had an impact on their local media sources. However, Hoekstra presented the problem of reporters at her news station being understaffed. Currently, she said, their reporters only cover news events of the day, and do not have in-depth coverage or analysis.

Next came a question that all panelists said they had heard many times before: "Is the media biased?" Hoekstra opened the discussion by saying that the answer could vary depending on who the viewer looks to as their news source.

The discussion became more heated when Rapp stated, "There is a tremendous amount of lying in the media today."

Merrill, who seemed offended by the comment, quickly demanded an example from Rapp, who brought up the self-proclaimed journalist Bill O'Reilly.

"He's not a journalist," answered Merrill. Smith then brought up the topic of what can be considered a valid opinion in media.

"What's happening is people like O'Reilly aren't basing opinions on facts," he said. The panelists agreed that opinions must have a sensible analysis, and that O'Reilly could not be included in that category.

In order to continue discussion on the question, Johnson asked the panel about the case of Armstrong Williams, who was paid by the Pentagon to write positive things about President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act.

All members seemed disgusted by journalists who accept bribes, especially Merrill who said it was like a "doctor, lawyer, or politician taking bribes."

Rapp agreed and said people don't seem to understand what the media is anymore. "We're not the government," he said. "All we're protected by is the first amendment."

After the facilitated session was over, the audience was invited to ask questions.

One student asked why the media only seems to cover negative stories.

Merrill claimed that his station does make an honest effort to keep the news from being focused solely on negative stories.

Rapp, however, gave an interesting explanation as to why most news networks seem negative.

"The news makes the assumption that the world is good, and that the viewer knows about the positive things," he said. "You're not going to put the 10,000 banks that weren't robbed on, you're gonna cover the one that was robbed."

Another student was concerned with the minimal news coverage awarded to the minor political parties. He pointed out that Republicans and Democrats receive attention at all times, but the audience only hears about other parties during election years.

Smith claimed to have attempted to contact members of all parties, but said that most minor parties have never taken the time to answer his inquiries. When Rapp mentioned that members of minor parties are hard to locate or get in touch with, the rest of the panel whole-heartedly agreed, saying that it is very difficult to find local headquarters.

After the question and answer session, the symposium was brought to a close.

SPFA is open to all students interested in becoming informed on political issues.

For more information on the new organization, students can contact Steve Vasko by phone at (989) 551-5524 or by e-mail at sdvasko@svsu.edu.

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