Sesno Lecture

CNN correspondent Frank Sesno was a great speaker--he definitely gave some good quotes and rules to follow about media ethics..
I found it interesting when he was saying how the news world and journalism has gotten to be so incredibly fast-paced and inexpensive these days because of new technologies--and because of this--we are a "fragmented public". In addition, I liked his quote about how the "bottomline pressures affect the byline". Basically, because the world of journalism has become so fast-paced and everything is happening at lightning speed, reporters and journalists are always in a rush to get their stories published or on-air before others. Basically, speed is trumping quality of stories.
I thought his example of the Duke Lacrosse case was a significant and perfect example of not only what he is talking but it also brings up the big question of what do journalists report? Because although an official (like Nifong or other authority figures) may be saying "This is what happened---", it may or may not be true. I think it's an interesting dilemma. A journalist/reporter wants to report what is going on so that the public is informed, but what if what they report is incorrect by no fault of their own.
I found this part of the lecture to be the most interesting because one of my friends who goes to Duke is dating Reade Seligman, one of the Duke lacrosse players charged in the case. It hit very close to home because I know what he and his family and even my friend Brooke (his girlfriend) went through during this case. Although all the journalists out there were merely reporting what Nifong and many other officials believed to be true..it all turned out to be wrong and these young mens' lives were ruined because of false accusations that were broadcasted nationwide.

I think in this case, there really was not much the media could do and it's really a shame. The media was only reporting what police and other officials suspected which is not wrong, but it ended up hurting so many people. In this case, it wasn't really the media's fault...maybe the media should have been more investigative or tried to even out both sides of the story..but it's hard.