Today, my group and I met with David Reiter at ABC Studios. We met in a conference room on one of the many floors of the building, after taking a short tour of their offices and recording areas. David is the vice president of data gathering and collection for ABC. He takes any information he can from their large teams of journalists and reporters, and provides their news and radio channels with it. One of our group members, Cameron K, had his mother join us for the interview. Since she coincidentally works their as well, she helped greatly with our navigation of the place. During our interview we encountered many important topics including: Dangerous types of free speech, free speech around the world, news controversy, journalistic and reporter rights, and respecting the rules of the country that ABC reports from.
He mentioned many times that ABC had been criticized for having biases or reporting on news that shouldn’t have been reported on. Several times a day, people comment on what ABC posts on the internet, the news, and the radio. Of course with the diversity of ideals seen in our country, and in New York, ABC encounters multiple different opinions. David explained that as long as it is good reporting, they will keep they news article posted, regardless of the chastisement. But he also said ABC tries its best to represent all sides of the argument or debate. Even if 1% is in disagreement, they must explain that side as well. There was one incident where David got a phone call from the FBI. This was regarding national security risks that had been inadvertently taken by ABC. A peace of news was going to be broadcasted that apparently contained hurtful or dangerous information that could jeopardize the safety of the people. Instead of backing down immediately, David and his team created a time when they could reach on consensus on what was the best action to take. This is one of the many things news networks have to pass though when reporting on potentially dangerous topics.
We asked had any journalists been in trouble with other countries when reporting their, perhaps even in-prisoned. He responded with how they had one camera man who was in a currently war torn country and that was in active rebellion. He had been taken by a group of rebels along with his team, and locked up in one of their hideouts. Only by using his charisma and social skills was he and his team able to escape unscathed. To prevent further engagements like this one, ABC makes decisions about whether the country is safe in the first place, and whether it’s worth the risk to report their. In case they misjudge the safety of the country, they have other protocols in place to help the journalists in need. Their reporters try their very best to respect the customs of the countries they visit, like the dress code and other activities required. This helps lessen the reports attention and hinders the chance of a negative interaction.We also inquired about how they can use the news to to help other imprisoned journalists, not just ABC ones. One of the ways they do this is by, “Shedding Light,” upon injustices that have little to no attention drawn to them. By spreading awareness, ABC is able to get many people involved and even our own government. This popularity can pressure the government who is doing these wrongs into fixing them.
ABC had over 100 million viewers each week. They have a large range of people they affect, and so this makes it easier to help with the issues around the world. I would like to thank David for his great work as our interviewee and Tamar, Cam K’s mother, for helping with out tour as well as making the experience all the better. You can find ABC at their web site as well as supporting them by watching their news channel. It was a great experience and I cant wait to have more like them.
