Three down, one more to go!

I can hardly believe that I am almost completing my third semester here at the University of North Texas. I have one more semester to go before moving to next destination. Fall 2011 has not been the easiest semester to survive. Having to deal with an increased work load and the loss of a dear friend has left me feeling very tired. I once questioned if I was learning anything this semester, but I now know that I did.

I took three classes this semester and so I thought I should share what I learned from each of those classes. Hopefully, that could enlighten someone else.

Media Ethics

Media organizations have policies which govern them. There are also state and Federal laws which protect the audience from certain of the media’s actions. There are however so many things the media could do that would harm the audience, irrespective of the laws and guidelines. I have learned to consider the feelings of stakeholders in the execution of my duties. Having the power to publish something or hide it it does not mean that I must use it. I have to minimize harm at all times.

Seminar in Public Relations

Public relations is all about relationships. Technology has made it easier for people to connect these days. Once you make those relationships, maintain them, they always come in handy.

Writing a communications plan for this class has also been an eye-opener. I am not likely to forget the lessons we had on the importance of planning and research in the process of producing a communications plan. Those lessons are relevant for everything else I could do in my career.

Research Methods II

The great quantitative research class terrified me long before I signed up for the class. This is probably the most intense and challenging class I have ever taken. It is also one of the most rewarding classes I have ever taken. Noticing how much of the course material I could understand, I feel like a winner. I learned that journalists and PR professionals use statistics in their professions. This class was therefore not a plan by the school to frustrate me, but a necessity.

With only a week left before this semester rounds up, I can confidently say that it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Merry Christmas everyone!

Meet Eric Nadel, Broadcaster & PRO for the Texas Rangers

Eric Nadel has been the radio sports announcer for the Texas Rangers for 33 years. He is sharp, smart, funny and to some very important people. Eric is still in disbelief that the Rangers didn’t win the World Series this year.

Eric has known what he wanted to be in life from a very early age; get paid to announce baseball games. Upon graduating from Brown University, Eric held a few jobs including one with a minor league hockey team for six years.

Eric doesn’t have a degree in journalism, but he knows about being ethical in his broadcasts. He doesn’t have a degree in public relations, but he’s charged with portraying the Rangers in a positive light.

Here are a few things Eric shared with my media ethics class this past Wednesday: his first duty is to the audience, and also to the team. After all, who signs his paychecks? Eric says his job is not to release breaking news to the public, but he may talk about information that has already been published.

 He mentioned the 2009 incident involving Josh Hamilton as one instance where he had to think both about the audience and the team’s image. Eric says he learned that pictures of a half-naked Hamilton in a strip club were released on a website prior to a game. He had to decide whether or not to mention the incident in his broadcast and how often he was going to refer to it. He is fortunate to have a boss who is a public relations professional, and saw the importance of being honest with the crowd about the Hamilton affair.  Eric did what he thought was best for both the audience and the team, and led his presentation with details from Hamilton’s press conference. He told the truth, but didn’t repeat it.

·         Be aware of what is happening at your organization or in the news

·         Seek to know the truth from a firsthand source if possible

·         Verify with your boss if they want that information release, and build an argument for your position if your boss disagrees with you

·         Tell the truth, once people are aware of the truth, not mentioning it makes you look shady

·         Remember you don’t have to be repetitive once you’ve told the truth.

Make no mistakes; while Nadel may seem to you like a spin master for the Rangers, he says he is sometimes critical of them. He remembers his first years on the job when he was less likely to criticize the team. Not only was he new at a job he wanted to keep, but he had a personal relationship with many of the payers who were about his age. Now he is older than all the players, and only maintains a cordial and impersonal relationship with them, something which enables him to criticize them when necessary. At the end of the day, it always helps to be independent from your sources if you want to remain a fair and unbiased source of information. Eric Nadel shows us that there is a way to associate with your sources, yet tell the truth about them.