For my journalism class, I completed an interview with Jon DuPre, a broadcaster who works for ABC 4 in Salt Lake. Basing my questions off the rubric Dr. Cressman provided, I succeeded in conducting a great interview. I learned many good things and some fascinating bits of recent history.
Jon DuPre was discouraged from following in his father’s footsteps as a lawyer, but he wanted to advocate for people, and so he decided on print journalism. As it happened, he accidentally took a broadcasting class instead of print. He liked the field’s use of pictures and sound, as well as words, so he stayed in the program. His first job was at KTVX in his senior year at BYU. As with other broadcasters, he worked long hours, filled in for others’ sick days and vacations, worked on holidays, and was paid very little for his efforts. But he loved it.
His definition of good journalism is to get the facts, double-source them, then double-check them. More than that, however, it is the responsibility to “tell the story behind the story;” in other words, to explain the situation and what the facts on the surface mean.
In my Communications 101 class, we watched “Outfoxed,” a documentary about the Fox network and Rupert Murdock. The movie’s purpose was to expose what the producers deemed bad journalism. In light of this, and the fact that Jon DuPre worked for Fox News in the past, I asked him what his thoughts were on the subject. “It’s a different sort of company,” he answered thoughtfully. “It has a particular political preference and serves a particular audience, namely conservative Republicans.” As for practicing good journalism, he replied, “I did seek to get the story behind the story, but the stories were supposed to appeal to a specific audience.”
Also necessary for good journalism is serving one’s community. Storytelling has its purpose, Mr. DuPre said, in helping people to make better-informed decisions. “I hope the people who watch are a little bit smarter and better at protecting themselves and their money.” For instance, he covered a story exposing NuSkin as a pyramid scheme in 1992. People were informed, and the company was forced to restructure.
Through journalism, Mr. DuPre feels that he has made a difference, advocating for the people. He told me of a Tooele woman who was charged for the murder of her ex-husband, and that the county attorney was corrupt and inept. He says the woman probably would have been acquitted without the story (her ex-husband was trying to kill her with a crowbar, and she acted in defense of herself and her children), but the attorney might not have been exposed. The benefit of the story was that the county attorney was exposed, and therefore couldn’t harm others in the future. In telling the story, I felt that being able to make a difference was the highlight of Mr. DuPre’s career.
Journalism has its difficulties, however. Due to the economic recession, a news source cannot afford to lose its company advertising, and therefore cannot say things against that company. Also, in order to get the audience interested, news operations have to focus more on entertainment and celebrity gossip, he told me. But why must news people do things they didn’t have to before in order to gain an audience?
He didn’t say this, but it appears that new technology and social media has made it possible for the so-called audience to gather and share news without watching the ten o’clock newscast. I asked him what his views were on the changing environment. “We have to put primary emphasis on posting news and information on the website immediately,” he told me. “The secondary interest is gathering and preparing it for news at six and ten.” That system poses a shorter deadline for verifying sources, and makes the job much different.
Social media has changed the news environment in other ways as well. Because of the internet, people can blog and Twitter news as it happens, making people less inclined to wait for the news report. His reaction to bloggers was simple. “I think that a lot of [social media] is valuable in that it encourages people to communicate, share their stories, share information; but it also allows for a lot of dissemination of misinformation,” he explained to me. “It’s important to know the difference between that and information that’s been validated. I get information from people. I think it’s valuable as long as you know the difference.”
After covering a few of the pros and cons of being a journalist, I asked him what advice he would give to students wanting to go into journalism. He answered immediately, “Don’t.” A brief laugh, and then he continued. “No, I’m kidding. Sort of, but not really. Something Walter Cronkite said, ‘If you’re not willing to do it for free, don’t do it.’ You have to be passionate about it. It’s hard work and crazy hours, and a thankless job, and as soon as you’re finished with your day’s work, you have to start over tomorrow. There’s never a time when you can rest, because news is always happening.”
The words are telling, but what impressed me was how he said them. I could hear how much he loves his job, and that to him it is all worth doing. There was one last word of advice he gave me, though. “Make sure you pay attention to every word Dr. Cressman says, because he is the smartest person in the business. He’s, like, borderline genius when it comes to news.” With the semester over, I wish I would have gotten the interview sooner. However, I have learned a lot, and hope to use the information I learned in whatever I do in my life. I have to love my job, and be willing to put forth the effort and do it well.
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