Wednesday, April 20, IQSSA'he Battalion/Page 7
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iy
'ouston Posf editor says purpose
f media is to provide knowledge
By Holly Becka
Reporter
The press is meant to provide
knowledge, not to influence it, the
pditor of the Houston Post stressed
[Tuesday.
Sponsored by MSC Great Issues,
Lynn Ashby spoke about “Media
find Public Opinion: Who Influences
Mo?”
“When you get right down to it,
Americans do not like the press, be
cause they tend to blame it for bad
pews; it goes back to Roman days,”
kshby said. “What bothers me,
[hough, is Americans won’t take re
sponsibility for their own actions.
They like to blame the messenger.
The press doesn’t create problems, it
■imply tells the truth.”
He said the American public is
lucky to depend on a “private busi-
■ess,” the press, for their power.
"The media work to let you know
[dial's happening,” Ashby said. “It
ears the responsibility of your
knowledge. The public can’t go out
Jnd find information, therefore, it
sends the American press. You learn
most of what you know from the me
dia.
“None other has served so well as
|ie press has served the people.”
Ashby said the press in America
Joesn’t influence opinion — the
ileus does.
I He said, however, America was in
fluenced by the press during the
Vietnam war.
■ “It was the first ‘living room’ war,
itKl there was some influence be
cause the press was only allowed to
show one side of a two-sided event,”
he said. “There were some overt
propagandists over there on both
skies.”
Ashby said the media were not al
lowed to publicize events such as the
invasion of Granada. Therefore, no
one knew about it until the end. Am
azingly enough, public polls showed
that the people favored the press not
being there. Ashby said this relates
back to the bad messenger theory.
“Journalists always have been the
bearers of bad news, and w'e always
will,” he said. “We’re not the most
popular bunch. But I’m not here to
complain. I wouldn’t trade my job
for anything.”
Ashby said each person chooses a
media form to trust and depend on.
He said this is not necessarily good
nor bad.
“You can trust the media to influ
ence you (even) if you don’t trust it
anymore than you would someone
else, like your professor or a priest,”
Ashby said. “We give you the facts,
and you sort them out and base an
opinion on that. All we can do is
tell.”
The editor said 108 daily newspa
pers, 460 weeklies and 78 TV sta
tions operate in Texas alone, which
creates a baffling source of news.
But there is something for everyone,
he said.
“All these sources are battling for
one simple thing: you. We want your ,
attention,” he said.
Ashby said the media try to influ
ence opinion, but if someone is in
formed about what is happening,
this is impossible.
He said it is meaningless to argue
about editorial endorsements.
“If the editorial is something you
agree with you say ‘right on!’ You
want to hear an opinion like yours,”
Ashby said. “If it’s something you’re
against, you disregard it. I can’t in
fluence you one way or the other on
Photo by Jay Janner
Lynn Ashby, editor of the Houston Post, discussed the media and
public opinion Tuesday at the Memorial Student Center. His pre
sentation was sponsored by MSC Great Issues.
things you care about.”
Ashby also said summit meetings
were just “show business,” and me
dia events.
“Politicians are vying to influence
the world, and the press is the mes
senger,” he said. “Politicians know
they can use the press to get to the
people. They practice giving short,
30-second one-liners they know will
be quoted.”
The editor said the media and the
public influence each other.
“We influence each other because
we’re a human endeavor,” he said.
“All the press knows is what it’s told.
We print lies because we’re told lies.”
The editor closed with a few
words about the mortality of the me
dia.
“The press is not perfect, but it is
as close as people working under
very stressful conditions can make
it,” Ashby said.
“The press is a human industry.
We deal with humans. We’re the
freest country, we have the freest
people, and our press is the freest
and most responsible.”
Professor recommends students read
lassies to gain humanistic education
By Marcena Fadal
Reporter
HA humanistic education is ultima-
Hy designed to prepare its students
foi life outside of school, an assistant
professor explained Tuesday.
e HCraig W. Kallendorf, assistant
professor in the Departments of Kn-
glish and Modern & Classical Lan-
feiges, discussed “Ancient, Renais-
■ Hice and Moderns: The Human in
Humanities” at the Fourth Annual
Humanities Lecture in Rudder
Tower.
. elI »'When and where was the mod
ern concept of the humanities first
formed?” Kallendorf began. “The
word ‘humanist’ is related to the Ital
ian ‘umanista,’ a slang term to de
note a professor or teacher of the
humanistic studies.”
Kallendorf explained that hu
man ism evolved from three points
“First, when the early Italian hu
manists discussed their studies, they
had in mind five specific fields:
grammar, rhetoric, history, poetry
and moral philosophy,” Kallendorf
said.
The second point involved the
reading of classics.
“In the early Italian Renaissance,
studying the humanities meant
studying the classics,” be said. “What
led tlie* humanists to the classics was
their search for books that could
teach them about human concerns
and actions. T he educational theor
ists remind us again and again to
read the classics because they guide
us to a richer, more fully-human li
fe.”
The third point was humanities
Jury deciding on lion owner’s penalty
d SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Jurors en-
tered their second day of deliber-
M ations Tuesday in the punishment
> I phase of an animal trainer convicted
ofinjury to a child.
ip i: Hpary Durkovitz, 35, of Houston,
It was convicted last week of injury to a
fti child after his pet lion “Samson”
c\( nuiuled Roxanne Hernandez, 8, at
* the Texas Flea Market on Oct. 10,
In: 1987, in Houston.
Poiitf T he jury took about five hours to
itU convict Durkovitz, but deliberated
for six hours Monday on punish
ment before being sequestered for
the evening.
The jury returned at 9 a.m. Tues
day.
Harris County prosecutors have
asked for the maximum punishment
of 10 years and a $5,000 fine, but de
fense attorneys have asked for pro
bation.
Durkovitz, who had taken his 350-
pouncl lion to previous shows at the
flea market, was walking his lion out
of the building when the attack oc
curred.
Samson attacked the little girl
when she walked in front of him.
The lion tore off part of the girl’s
skull when the animal tried to put
the child’s head in its mouth.
The girl, whose brain was exposed
after the attack, was hospitalized for
a month and had to have a home-
bound teacher before returning to
school in February.
She has undergone reconstructive
surgery and faces more surgery.
ultimate goal as a student’s prepara
tion for life.
Kallendorf said universities today
, ax e as conservative as they were cen
turies ago.
“There axe only 66 institutions
around today that can trace theix
existence back to 1530,” he said.
“These are the Catholic Church, the
Lutheran Church, the parliaments
of Iceland and the Isle of Man and
62 universities.
“Not even the most hidebound
traditionalist would demand Greek
and Latin for everyone in our little
Athene on the Brazos,” Kallendorf
joked.
Works by blacks, women and oth
ers traditionally excluded are being
read more than Shakespeare and
Virgil, Kallendorf said.
“The traditional authors axe not
completely abandoned,” Kallendorf
said. “Annabel Patterson, for exam
ple, uses Shakespeare to show how
17 th century society mistreated
women, blacks and the working
class.”
Kallendorf ended his lectuxe by
asking everyone in the room to bury
themself in the classics.
“Put the human into the humani
ties,” he said. “Focus aiouncl that
and everything else will eventually
fall into place.”
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