On Friday, Oct. 9, SUNY Oswego’s School of Media, Communication and the Arts announced the theme for the 16th annual Dr. Lewis B O’Donnell Media Summit, which will take place virtually on Oct. 28. This year’s theme is “On the Front Lines with the First Amendment.” 

The summit will analyze freedom of the press and speech through the lens of 2020. The three major prongs to the discussion will be the press’ impact or role in Black Lives Matter protests, the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 Presidential Election. These three were selected during the spring 2020 semester, when the committee was unsure what would still be relevant in October.

“We have to choose a theme fairly early on, so we can select the right people on the panel. We thought COVID, and then when Black Lives Matter happened, we thought maybe we should address that … We didn’t want to choose something that would be out of date or old news,” said Julie Pretzat, the Dean of the School of Media, Communications and the Arts. “We figured the overarching theme for a lot of these things, COVID as well as Black Lives Matter as well as some of the political things, has been the first amendment. It’s freedom of speech. It’s how journalists are being treated. When Black Lives Matter marches started, there was some violence and some against journalists.”

In an era of media mistrust, it is critical to inform the American public about the goals of good journalism. These goals, according to the Society of Professional Journalists, include seeking and reporting truth, acting independently and being accountable and transparent, among others. 

While some people do not necessarily know this side of the media, the Media Summit can act as a way to educate the community regarding the importance of good journalism.

“Good journalism is crucial,” Pretzat said. “There’s bad journalism on both sides of the [political] spectrum, but good investigative journalism is crucial to our country remaining a free democracy.”

In a time as complex as 2020, the constitution brings things back into perspective. During the Black Lives Matter protests, journalists were reporting live in the streets risking their own lives to inform the public. Other people on the scene were not as passive, as there were several incidents where police shot foam bullets or hit journalists on the scene, in cities like Minneapolis, Minnesota; Los Angeles, California; and New York City. 

“People get caught up in the volatility of a specific situation and they forget we have a constitution that tells us really good guidelines about the importance of freedom of the press and freedom of speech,” Pretzat said. “If you don’t have a free press, and you don’t have investigative journalism, governments can run amuck. It is really really crucial that we have checks and balances in our government.”

Good journalism has become exceptionally important in the political world. Good journalism goes beyond what a demographic wants to hear, it is giving them all the information they need to make good decisions. The Media Summit provides broadcasting and journalism students, as well as all students who want to learn about how the major events of 2020 and the First Amendment have interacted, a chance to learn what good journalism truly is.

“It is [important] to remain in the middle,” Pretzat said. “And to hear both sides so the American people can make their own decisions about things.”

Photo By Nicole Hube | The Oswegonian