On Thursday, October 9th, Peter Prichard received the 2014 Al Neuharth Award for Excellence in the Media. The ceremony was held in the Al Neuharth Media Center on the campus of the University of South Dakota. Faculty, students, alumni, and members of the community attended the event, which included a social hour before the award was presented.
Students from the university's media and journalism department recorded and directed the event, which will be broadcast on South Dakota Public Television later this fall. Chief Operating Officer of the Newseum Institute, Gene Policinski delivered the welcome. He mentioned that Neuharth would've enjoyed that students from the university were a vital part of the award ceremony.
USD President James Abbott made the opening remarks, and he stressed the importance of tradition.
"The older I get, the more I believe that tradition means something," President Abbott said. Abbott continued his address by saying we need to be reminded of those who make things happen, and how glad he is that the Neuharth award is a continued tradition on USD's campus. Neuharth was an alumni of the university, and former editor of The Volante. In the closing of his remarks, Abbott said, "Neuharth's spirit will always be here at USD."
Following a video showcasing Prichard's life and successes, Jane Neuharth, son of Al and Chair of the Freedom Forum Board of Trustees, introduced and presented the award.
This was the first year the award has been presented without its namesake, Al Neuharth, in attendance. Although the ceremony was held to honor Prichard, he remained very humble in his acceptance of the award.
During his journalism career, Prichard was a copy editor, a police reporter, an investigative/projects reporter, a media critic, a political editor, and a TV producer. Prichard was also a founding editor of USA Today from 1988-1995. During this time, the newspaper became the most circulated newspaper, printing 2.3 million copies each year.
Prichard began his remarks by remembering his time with Al Neuharth.
"Al was one of the most magnetic human beings I have ever met," Prichard said.
He said every experience he had with Neuharth was an adventure, and he used to always ask, "What did you do for me yesterday?" Prichard also recalled the extravagant nature of Neuharth. He said that whenever Neuharth would stay at a hotel, he requested fresh fruit with no grapes, an expensive bottle of champagne, and a full stack of the day's newspapers outside his door before 6am.
After this, Prichard started talking about his thoughts on today's world of media and journalism. He said his feelings toward the industry can be summed up with one phrase:
It's the best of times, and the worst of times.
He cited the wide availability of news as being a positive aspect of the digital age, but the loss of journalistic value as a negative trait. Prichard gave several statistics citing the decline of journalism, including 31% of news consumers have stopped reading a favorite newspaper or watching a favorite newscast, and 29% of Americans can’t name a single freedom guaranteed to American’s by the first amendment. He also presented examples of celebrity or "fluff" news taking precedent over journalism. Prichard said when he went to sites like Buzzfeed or Mashable, there were several articles with a "must-read" tag that didn't include anything about news that matters.
Another troubling issue Prichard presented was misinformation and manipulation in the media, citing journalists that don't present fair and accurate news reports. He said 60% of respondents to a recent Newseum survey think the news media are biased.
On the other hand, Prichard said it's the responsibility of everyone in the country to be smarter consumers of media, and to be more critical of what they read, especially on the Internet.
Prichard ended his address on a positive note by saying the media protects the country against production, and that every day as a journalist is fresh and new.
No comments:
Post a Comment