Every year since 1999, the School of Media and Journalism at UNC has hosted the Park Lecture Series. This year Fox News anchor Chris Wallace gave the lecture over Skype.
The first topic Wallace discussed was the current state of journalism.
“The whole structure of journalism has just changed completely,” he said. “It was a very small world. There was a very straightforward path in journalism, but that has changed completely. It’s a more democratic system; there’s more variety in the system.”
Sophomore Sean Kurz, a global studies and journalism major, said he was especially interested in the observations Wallace made about how journalism is changing.
“I think it is very important for college students, especially at a school with such a dominant media and journalism program, to pay close attention to the fact that this career of providing information to different publics is constantly changing,” he said.
Because there are so many different news sources, Wallace said it's important to follow multiple subjective sources in order to arrive at objective truths.
“I don’t even agree with the idea that you have to look for news sources that agree with you,” he said. “I would say that almost everybody should find a news source that you like and you trust and find one that’s legitimate that you don’t agree with. By tracking the various lines, you arrive at the truth.”
Christine Scalora, a first-year masters student in strategic communications, said she was excited to hear from someone who has so much respect within the media.
“I used to be a reporter so I’m really interested in hearing from people who are from that world,” she said. “Obviously, Chris Wallace is an incredibly high level, and he has had some interesting experiences like moderating the debate or interviewing the president or all sorts of different things.”
