A Chat with Bob Wigginton

So lately in our media class we have been talking about newspaper as a type of media. So on Monday, we had a guest speaker come to our class and tell us what he thought about it. Bob Wigginton, used to work for a newspaper in Little Rock, Arkansas, and now happens to be a professor at our school. He came to Lindenwood to inspire us students to keep the newspaper industry going. Because of the news we already get from the television or the internet, we hardly pick up a paper and read it anymore.

I guess since he has been to Afghanistan and has reported on the things he saw, along with things he probably shouldn’t have seen, he would come to Lindenwood. He would come here and work through the battle of students being connected to the internet 24/7 and the television and try and turn them towards the hardcopy of news, which would be the newspaper. The first thing that Mr. Wigginton noticed when he came to Lindenwood was that all the students weren’t carrying newspapers but rather laptops, and now days that isn’t that uncommon. Most people cannot live without their phone or their computer, I know I can’t.

One comment he made about the newspaper is how lately newspapers are almost overwhelming to read. On the front page, it’s not so easy to figure out what the lead story is anymore. The front pages of newspapers are flooded with visuals and not words. Personally, the pictures are the things that get me interested. For me it’s easier to look at a picture, and if it gets my attention then I want to read the story. If not, then I may bypass the whole thing all together.

Besides all that, another main point that Mr. Wigginton talk about was the diversity in the news room. How many people don’t get a job because of their race and sometimes by their sex. Granted, I know this happens in every work place but I don’t think its right. I think that everyone should have to go through the same interviewing process and who ever seems like they fit the job better, job performance wise, should get the job. I agreed with Bob when he said that diversity in the newsroom was a good thing. When there is diversity, then there is a little bit of something for everyone. When Bob worked for the newspaper in Little Rock, I was surprised to find out that the majority of people were women and that they were white.

The last thing we talked about with Mr. Wigginton was censorship. I both agree and disagree with it. I think that for the most part people have a right to know what’s going on and who’s involved and so forth. But on the other hand, if I were the person in the news, I’m not so sure I would want people to know every little detail about what was going on in my life. What if it was something tragic and didn’t really involve anyone else, I would want time to grieve, not read it over and over again in the newspaper.