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Monday, October 26, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Journalism 1 series #5 Awards Chapel
Gordon Alumni Honored at Convocation
By Maggie Lafferty and Steven Fletcher
By Maggie Lafferty and Steven Fletcher
The A.J. Gordon Chapel resounded with a bagpiper’s rendition of Amazing Grace, signaling the start of the college’s homecoming festivities. Echoing pipes served as a prelude for the 2009 Alumni Awards convocation held on October 9th where five graduates of both Gordon and Barrington College received awards.
The convocation began with the Alumnus of the Year award, given to Reverend Eugene Neville, a ’69 Barrington graduate. He serves as pastor at the Mount Moriah Baptist Church in Brockton, MA. Neville created several ministries while serving; a prison ministry was most notable. He gave a short message on Psalm 27:4, telling the audience about his desire to “dwell in the house of the lord all his life.”
Herbert Boyd, a ’52 Gordon Graduate received the A.J. Gordon Missionary Service Award for 55 years of church planting in the Netherlands. For his service Queen Beatrix made him a member of the Order of Orange-Nassau, the highest civilian honor in 2008. At the convocation, he said a chapel speaker inspired his work in Holland expressed to the audience “listening is hearing and doing something with it.”
Shella SaintCyr, a ’03 graduate Gordon graduate received The Young Alumna of the Year. SaintCyr serves as a social worker in both Boston and Chicago. Her message to the audience imparted a strong hope in God’s faithfulness.
The final award, the Winfred Currie Alumni Award in Education, was given to Dr. Gary Schmitt, a ’72 Gordon graduate. Schmitt writes young adult literature and teaches English at Calvin College. Schmitt arrived at the convocation just moments after Mering announced his award, but came not a moment too soon to speak. Schmitt told the audience his Gordon education reminds him God is in the details.
The Jack Good Community Service Award winner, Melissa Winchell a ’99 Gordon graduate, could not attend the convocation. She serves at Lynn Classical High Schools in Lynn, MA.
The convocation began with the Alumnus of the Year award, given to Reverend Eugene Neville, a ’69 Barrington graduate. He serves as pastor at the Mount Moriah Baptist Church in Brockton, MA. Neville created several ministries while serving; a prison ministry was most notable. He gave a short message on Psalm 27:4, telling the audience about his desire to “dwell in the house of the lord all his life.”
Herbert Boyd, a ’52 Gordon Graduate received the A.J. Gordon Missionary Service Award for 55 years of church planting in the Netherlands. For his service Queen Beatrix made him a member of the Order of Orange-Nassau, the highest civilian honor in 2008. At the convocation, he said a chapel speaker inspired his work in Holland expressed to the audience “listening is hearing and doing something with it.”
Shella SaintCyr, a ’03 graduate Gordon graduate received The Young Alumna of the Year. SaintCyr serves as a social worker in both Boston and Chicago. Her message to the audience imparted a strong hope in God’s faithfulness.
The final award, the Winfred Currie Alumni Award in Education, was given to Dr. Gary Schmitt, a ’72 Gordon graduate. Schmitt writes young adult literature and teaches English at Calvin College. Schmitt arrived at the convocation just moments after Mering announced his award, but came not a moment too soon to speak. Schmitt told the audience his Gordon education reminds him God is in the details.
The Jack Good Community Service Award winner, Melissa Winchell a ’99 Gordon graduate, could not attend the convocation. She serves at Lynn Classical High Schools in Lynn, MA.
“The award winners are just the tip of the iceberg of what people from Gordon and Barrington are doing all over the world,” said Mering. Gordon’s Alumni awards convocations draw award winners from the Philippines, Romania, the Netherlands and others.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Elements and Edward
Concerning Elements and Edward
By Steven Fletcher
Gorge Clooney’s “Good Night and Good Luck” (2005) makes a compelling case for vetted and trustworthy news-writing and broadcasting. The film tells the story of Edward R. Murrow’s report on Senator Joseph McCarthy. The story illuminates the epitome of journalism as a discipline of verification and art of making information engaging, relevant, and honest.
People called Murrow the "most trusted man in America.". His news came with an objective method, not with objectivity. The report on McCarthy lacks objectivity when seen through the eyes of "neutral" fairness. Murrow believed McCarthy a threat to democracy and foundational American beliefs. His perspective lacked any smoked glass. One doesn’t find many anchors requesting to read from a script to ensure the accuracy of their information, in this film, Murrow does.
He doesn’t sensationalize, and the content of his report on McCarthy belonged to the Senator himself. Murrow composed the account of McCarthy’s own words and images. Before the images aired, he told the audience precisely the purpose of the images. Murrow’s method stood transparent. He let his viewers know his intent, his credibility rested on transparency.
Murrow’s journalism then, is as Kovach and Rosentiel, authors of The Elements of Journalism, write “a discipline of verification.” Murrow’s most explicit use of an objective method exists in the McCarthy report itself. He added little to what had occurred in McCarthy’s own hearings. Murrow reports t in a way that both engages the audience and makes relevant his material.
Murrow stands as an example of what a journalist needs to do in the age of modern communication. His words cannot insulate, or entertain for the sheer purpose of attracting viewers. A journalist must not say what is merely interesting, but make interesting what needs to be said.
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