Aaron Vento | Staff Reporter
October 14, 2014; 09:30 a.m.
Mike Wall, dean of communications, hosted a panel of alumni and veterans entitled Communications through the Decades on Thursday, Oct. 9 at 6:30 p.m.
Made up of veterans in the mass communications business with pooled experience from the last 50 years, they convened in Young Auditorium to discuss how the business has changed and where they think it will go in the future. Radio personalities, radio station owner, TV producers, and even engineers in the field shared knowledge and experiences with both a live and televised audience.
Some members began work in the communications business as early as the 60s and, as such, were able to offer their insight on how the business has changed for them personally, as well as globally. One major issue brought up was the subject of truth and morals and how far a journalist should be willing to go to get the job done while still being able to keep their integrity in check. The incidents in Ferguson and the news’ response to those events were also discussed.
The panel felt that the media was in no way to blame for them becoming any more severe than they have already. The topic of Twitter and Facebook’s effect on mass communications and how the ability for anyone nowadays to post something and call themselves journalists and their writing truthful was discussed.
As the panel drew to a close the panelist began to offer insight and advice to anyone interested in pursuing a career in mass communications, telling them that like any other job it takes hard work and passion, but most importantly, one has to be willing to go and get it for themselves. One needs to be confident and willing to ask questions in order to succeed.
