WJI 2021, Day 4 AM - Appreciating the Freedom of Press

This morning was fast-paced. We started out with broadcasting. Paul Butler told us all to get out a sheet of paper to try to remember all the broadcast rules we’d learned the day before and write them down in two minutes. It ended up being a helpful intro recap.

Around 10 AM, we started prepping for the press conference tomorrow. Everyone had questions. “How do we ask good questions to the press conference leaders?” “How do we find good clips from the conference to put in our video?” “What are we trying to get out of the press conference?” These are just a few of them, but everyone engaged well. We all want to make sure no critical detail is left uncovered, just as any good journalist would.

Marvin Olasky talked at 11 a.m. about how journalism used to be meant for making the King look good (PR) and no other reason. I enjoyed his story about John Peter Zenger, an editor who reported against the current person of power, William Cosby. Zenger reported what Marvin called the corruption story, that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). But Cosby wanted him to only report the good sides of himself. So, Zenger’s case went to court, and the jury ruled in favor of him. After that, no one in colonial times made a case against freedom of the press. Cool, right?

I think sometimes it is easy to take for granted our free speech as reporters, but, at WJI, I am learning just how much has gone into that right that is in the first amendment. Not even just free speech, but how many different worldviews there are and how to navigate them all through the lens of Scripture.

-Hannah Urban