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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 2, 1981)
friday, October 2, 1981 daily nebraskan page 9 Media manipulation at record burning criticized Editori note: All news pa Den sav thev ar mmmiitpH to informing their readers. But sometimes it becomes ne cessary to inform readers on how and why decisions are made the way they are. Throughout the semester, News Editor Steve Miller will be addressing these issues as they occur. Some events are especially attractive to the news desk. The record-burning ceremony Tuesday in Grand Island was such an event. mm It was a chance to get some good photographs, an inter esting story and a little color in the news section of the Daily Nebraskan. Not all stories have that much to offer. Many of them simply have to be done. The problem with the record burning story was that it had the smell of a media event - an event staged only for publicity. Media events often are the closest thing to fic tion the news desk of any paper will run. They are, to some degree, fabricated. I have no doubt the people involved were sincere. I'm sure they were. But they were manipulating the media to some degree. Worse yet, as reported in Wednesday's Daily Foreign teaching. . . Continued From Page 1 Meanwhile, students of foreign teaching assistants should make an effort to meet the teacher on a personal level, Sharifl said. "Students should always try to talk to their teachers anyway," he said. "If they can go in and just talk to him or her for an hour or so, they will become accustomed to the person's dialect, and in the process get to know the person," Sharif! said. Most department chairmen will hire the student that has the "greater mind," he said. The chairman will hire one who will contribute the most to the university, he said. "Because of that, most of the foreign students, both graduate and undergraduate, are bright compared to the average American student," Sharifi said. "They are both usually the cream of the crop." Nebraskan, the press did some manipulating of its own. The news desk had to decide whether to run the story becausea group of people were doing something news worthy or to rebel against the manipulation involved and ignore the story. Everybody does it Nothing good can be said about manipulation of the media but the fact remains that it is always with us. Poli ticians manipulate the press, religious leaders do it, peo ple make livings by manipulating the news for other peo ple and companies have been built around the idea. Often, when we allow ourselves to be manipulated, we do the public a disservice. We jeopardize the independence, needed to do our job. Stories manipulated into print often are one-sided, weighted heavily by philosophy and serve no purpose but to get a name into print. The media have many reasons to avoid manipulation. But avoidance can go too far. The dangerous part of deal- -ing with manipulation is deciding whether the story or event is merely advertising or whether it really is news. Some papers come just short of banning stories con cerning the Moral Majority. It's a touchy situation. Does continuous coverage gain or hurt news credibility? The Moral Majority is only one example. I believe tac tics used by the Rev. Jerry Falwell were especially effec tive. For a time he was covered in the news every day. There must have been an excruciating moment for many editors when they realized how far they had been sucked up by the maneuvers of Falwell and his public relations people. But legitimate news about the Moral Majority may now be left out. Again, that is a disservice. Burning and breaking newsworthy In the case of the record-burning event, I considered what I thought to be the sincerity of the people involved. Imm There was some manipulation by the church group, but that does not diminish the fact that the people involved were burning album covers and breaking albums with a hammer because they believe they cannot be both Chris tians and rock V roll lovers. I think that is newsworthy. But I regret the media manipulating the event The media never should be allowed to interfere with the natu ral course of such events. It is hard for people to act naturally and intelligently when television crews with cameras and lights and pho tographers and reporters with notepads swarm around them. It is difficult for me to believe that members of the media asked members of the church group to start earlier - so daylight would light the scene for the cameras - and asked them to repeat actions for the cameras action is better for pictures. I do not like manipulation but I do not regret covering the record burning. I do regret performances by members of the media. D a D looaaaoaa OH WEEKENDS AS THE HARRIS MAN. 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