Race and Religion Reporting

Times in America have changed. If we take a look back 50 years you will see a nation that truly has grown and become the land of opportunity. There are many factors that have a huge impact on the way we live today. Diversity/Race Relations and Religion are two that have been a large topic as of lately. On October 15, 2008 three gentlemen who have made strides in the Mass Media field came to speak on these topics. Ken Irby, Christopher Martinez and Eric Deggans all visited to discuss these controversial subjects.
Ken Irby, Director of Diversity at the Poynter Institute, talked about his experience as an African American in the media. As a black man reporting, there were times where he couldn’t report on issues involving men or minorities because he is “affiliated” with these groups. He combated that by saying the notion that we are “objective” in the media is crazy. This is because we all have subjective experiences. There is a distinct difference between objectivity and truth. “My truth is not everyone else’s truth,” he explained. He used the example of us (the listeners), if were doing a story on them, if one person focused on what Ken said and another focused on what Christopher said, then we would have two different stories and truths.
Christopher Martinez, a former religion reporter and current University of South Florida professor, had a little bit of a different message. He said that national media has a huge impact on localism. Many religion stories are tight-nit and community based, but the majority comes from national occurrences. For example, when the Pope came to the United States, the Catholic Church had a record number of attendances at mass. When there was a chain reaction of priests being accused of molestation there was a massive decline in attendance.
Christopher also stressed that you must “have tough skin because when you report on something people will be mad at you, especially in a close-nit environment. He told us a personal story that people all the time will walk around him and mention they better not say anything because he is a reporter. Christopher said he replies with you don’t have anything newsworthy for me to write anyways, which usually makes then indignant and change their attitudes.
Eric Deggans, who is a music critic for the St. Pete Times, also added his input. He thought it was interesting how black ministers for so long fought for equality and civil rights, although a majority of them are voting no on Amendment 2. Also, being that he is a media critic, he said he is bothered that no other minority groups other than blacks really receive attention as far as their religion is concerned. There are so many diverse populations, such as the Vietnamese, Chinese etc. that do not get any attention on their beliefs.
The best advice that I received from the three of them was to establish good relationships. You get the exclusive interviews when you are able to do so.