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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 20, 1994)
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Or f«l . «f |M! m«i tw»h.rv i.p>. it, rm: «< i>*i **************** WUNDERLAND -~ ■■■-'l -:,2Z— jjfh STREET k'vtOEO POflL,C“*B,(E7 }oAm* 683-8464 - VIDEO ADVENTURE vAi.it v nrvrn pi. a/a ♦¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥V V V¥¥« Attention: UO Faculty & Staff Macintosh Consulting ◄ ◄ ◄ ◄ ◄ in4mation Associates t omhtnmg over 20 v *>ars »t profrvvnm.il wt> sproalt/e in transforming Ihr Macinltish inhi ,i powerful offne [urtnrr vlesigning i in tom f I1datafcail sv ifinm ’«onftgunng networks ! ami irvatmg custom software to meet your needs CalltiKl.iv to arrange a lomplemeutan lonsullatvm / y ► ►> ► ► 688-1134 UO Housing positions available for 1QQ4-Q5 school gear Desk assistants at Hamilton, Carson & l Inivcrsity Inn Area Desks Mail clerks at Hamilton Area Desk • Work X 20 bourv’ week ' $*>.20 5.65 hour ibaiedim pnttf VO etpertrm r) Applications available at Area I>csks anil University Housing Front Desk Completed applications must he turned in to UO Housing Front Desk no later than 12 noon, April 27, IW4 An hOAA'ADA Ifntiiutum • to < ultural dtverun Please Recycle This Paper UNIVERSITY Alter: Weird news a bad fad By Lori Bettineskl Ocepor (lady fmm,M If anyone i Jin relate to m<“dla figures it's Otto mans With Senator Boh Pac k wood and Tonya Harding making headlines almost daily, the topic of this year's annual Huhl l.cc lurr Wednesday afternoon hit rather close to home Sponsored hy the School of Journalism, the le< lure drew one of its largest crowds in eighteen years when ,Vew.s week's senior editor and news media < ritn Jonathon Alter spoke on The (,«>rnl doi/.ition of New s " Known for his critical look at the media's role in American society. Alter tiegan his speech by thanking the large crowd for coming at a time Jonathan Alter when I.era Ido, sally Jesse Raphael and Phil Donahue were competing against hnn for attention "I'm luc kv you showed up today." Alter stud "The rest of Ameru a has appointments w ith people who art* so famil iar to everyone that we don't even need last names If Tonya or Michael or L.orena or Joey and Amy were on today. I might as well pack it in right now l-nmiliaritv By Hit* public with wttll-known tabloid celebrities was one of the key themes Alter ftx list'd on during his 45-minute speech. Citing supermarket tabloids and syndicated tele vision shows as a major source of "Geraldoiza tion." Alter said he believes the lfWOs are Ix'com ing too wrapped up in "weird-news tabloid reporting " "Right now wo re stuck with freak-of-the-week coverage," Alter said "The entire media estab lishment are finding themselves obsessing over John Bobbitt's penis or Lyle Menendoz' loupe or Michael Fay's buttocks in Singapore " Alter emphasized that journalists working in the media today need to focus more attention on what is really important, not what sells on the news stands After working in the field for almost 20 years. Alter said he felt sensationalism in the media today is what alarms him the most "Mnnv viewers confuse what they see on Coral do or Donahue or Hand Copy with news." Alter said. "The result of all this is that people see and hear more news than ever before, but believe less of it "And when they believe less of it, they grow more cynical and detached from the very ques tions of public importance that the news is sup posed to engage them in," he said. As unpopular or unappealing as the truth may The truth may be that the maid doesn't have the foggiest idea what Michael Jackson does with children, but if you put her on saying that, everyone will change the channel. Jonathan Alter, Newsweek s senior editor rind media critic be. Alter reminded the madia and journalism stu dents in the crowd that truth is still the highest value of journalism. in emphasizing the value of truth, he also emphasized that "untahlnidish." unpopular news is often the type of important news that people need to make informed der isions on as responsi ble citizens "The truth is not always what the public really wants, it's claim notwithstanding," Alter said. i he truth may l>e that the maid doesn't have the foggiest idea what Mic hael Jackson does with chil dren. but if you put her on saying that, everyone will change the channel." Alter concluded his speech by emphasizing that tiiis type of responsiveness can be a sellout and that the highest form of media responsibility is to avoid responding to the desires of the audience, citing Connie Chung ns an example. “Tonya Harding has a place on the evening news, but it's not Connie Chung’s place to come to Portland to anchor the CBS livening News from Harding's rink,” Alter said. "Along the same lines, serial killers have a place on television news, but something's wrong when the coverage is so extensive and exploitive that we begin to believe Americans are actually at risk of I wing murdered by serial killers.... though no show would risk pointing that out." Alter s speech was part of the Ruhl Symposium on Ethics in Journalism that brings prominent pro fessionals and media scholars to the University to discuss responsibility in journalism and the boundaries of ethics in news. The annual lecture was established through a gift from the late Mabel Ruhl of Medford in mem ory of her husband, Robert VV Ruhl. who died in 19ti7 He was the Pulitzer Prize-winning editor and publisher of the Medford Mail Tribune, Wednesday Nights are Very ^ pea til at Scandal’s You won’t believe what we have going on! i k^cl l>1^ '4r rm&Tf Scandal's Louiqe • 1111 tennial Blvd. aaaa^i^v*a^i«qv-»vrami«a>»ul 4 Ofegon Daily Eme/ald WixJnosday. April 20. 1994 Christianity Anri Artistic Creativity A Symposium sponsored by the Ira (iaston Brqurst Ail events free and open to the public FILMS both in 100 Willamette, 1371 £ 13th Are 12 April 730pm Jeans of Montreal 13 April 7 30 p m Iron weed. with Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep LECTURES ! 19 April 3 00 p m 115 Lawrence, 1190 Franklin Bhd Christian Creativity In Eastern Orthodox Icons (illustratedlecture) A Dean McKenzie, Ihofessor Emeritus of Art History, lit) 19 April 4:00 pm Warner Gallery, Museum of Art, 1430 Johnson in Tonr of the CO Icon collection. Professor McKenzie 19 April 7:30 p m 115 Lau rence, 1190 Franklin Bird Athos, the Holy Mountain (illustrated lecture) Frank R. Hortbeck, Professor of Art History, University of Wisconsin, Madison 20 April 4 00 p m 100 Willamette. 1371E 13th Aie Christianity and the Arts Doug Adams, Professor of Religion and the Arts Pacific School of Religion 20 April 730 pm 238 Gilbert. 955 E 13th Are Christianity and Architecture Thomas (Jordon Smith, Chairman and Professor, School of Architecture, University of Notre Dame 21 April 4.00 p m 231 Gilbert. 955 E 13th Ate Christianity and Literary Artistry] William Kennedy’s Pnrgatorial Vision. Ted L Estess, Associate Professor uf English and Dean of the Honors College, University of Houston 21 April 7.00 p.m. 110 Willamette, 1371E 13th Ate Panel Discussion Professors .Adams, Estess. and Smith •RrqursU for srrwnmodMiom rritint to disability should be made lo tVoln»or 1 T Sanders v* 346-4997 by 8 Apnl RELATED EVENTS (admission fee charged) 12 May 8:00 p.m Concert by University Gospel Ensemble Plus, a series of lectures and concerts presented by the Oregon Bach Festival, May, June and July, especially 26 Jane 8:00 p.m. litanies, first performance of a new choral work by Arvo Pirt
