Today we have a speaker by the name of Wesley Piper, he was born in Iowa and lived on a farm for most of his childhood. He talked about how news will always be around for a couple reasons: 1. it draws people in to want to know more. 2. people want to know the truth and know the essence of the matter. He also talked about how you can have all the facts but still miss the truth. Meaning that you can almost be blinded by to much excitement and not take the time to look at what is right in front of your face. Another topic he talked about was that you have to look beyond the story to find out the truth. Sometimes you have to plot it out for yourself and see if both of the stories match up.
The panel discussion
The panel had a great list of questions for the correspondents to answer. A few were: how can journalists connect with the people? The answer for this is simple but yet a lot of journalists miss it. You have to speak the common language. You can assume anything, you have to explain it in plain words.
The panel also said that building relationships with Public Resources persons was a great help to him. He recommended that everyone do this.
Never be scared to take educated risks, meaning if someone needs you to do something, do it! Be flexible, be able to make changes and move on the snap. The do nots he said were not to lie, because once you are caught in a lie then your sources are no longer trustworthy. Also he said do not get wrapped up in new things. Change is good but you have to analyze it first before you dive in.