Former Nightline broadcaster Ted Koppel had a conversation with a packed house in Pruis Hall last night.
Koppel addressed the United States' trillion-dollar deficit, the country's role in foreign affairs and how news media shapes Americans' knowledge. He also blamed the news media for Americans not being informed on the issues of the deficit and foreign affairs.
"We stopped telling you what we thought you needed to hear," he said.
News media has moved toward trying to state the obvious first instead of taking time to investigate and report facts, Koppel said.
"Caring about it is what is most important," he said "And ‘it' is facts."
Koppel went past the hour scheduled for his speech to answer questions from the audience.
"You don't have to be Midwestern nice to me," he said before the floor was open to questions.
More than 15 people asked him questions ranging from the future of journalism to the United State's involvement in foreign aid. One journalism student asked Koppel if the journalism industry is dying and if the deterioration of media is a slow process. Koppel assured her that the opportunity to become a journalist is greater now than it ever has been before.
"The industry isn't dying," he said. "It's just reshaping. It's morphing in front of our very eyes."
Lori Byers, assistant dean of College of Communication, Information and Media, said all 700 seats in Pruis were filled and 150 people watched the presentation streamed live in Teachers College. She said she was surprised that Koppel was willing to go over the hour that was reserved for the event.
"I think he was enjoying himself," Byers said. "In some ways, Pruis is an intimate setting."
Freshman elementary education major Samantha Smith said she learned a lot about media at the event.
"I will probably be more inclined to watch the news and try to understand what's going on in the world," she said.
Smith said Koppel helped her understand the reality of the country's trillion-dollar deficit.
"I come from a seven-person family," she said. "Just to hear him say [the economy] is going to be crumbling for myself and my family hit home."
Senior advertising major Janet Ford said she liked how Koppel addressed the deficit and related it to journalism at the beginning of his speech.
"It was refreshing to hear more of a down to earth perspective," she said. "A lot of time that's sheltered by networks."
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