The University of Central Oklahoma hosted its annual media ethics conference, on Oct. 3. The theme for this year’s conference was “War on Truth: Confronting Deception in Media.” The program, sponsored by UCO’s Mass Communication department, featured local, national, and international speakers.
Tulsa Community College (TCC) students and TCC faculty adviser, Jerry Goodwin, attended the forum along with the OCU journalism major students, faculty, and guest speakers.
One of the lecturers was Joseph Carter, a former White House aide of two American presidents. He gave a talk about being a witness of the President John F. Kennedy assassination in Dallas, Texas, in 1963. He was one of nearly 200 journalists covering the president’s visit.
Carter heard the shots and witnessed blood on Jacqueline Kennedy’s coat. The Oklahoma Hall of Fame journalist reported on the event and follow-ups were published worldwide. Carter published a book, “I Heard JFK’s Death Shots,” about JFK’s assassination. The journalist’s talk and testimony made a great impression on the audience at the forum.
Another guest speaker was Dr. Dannagal G. Young, a professor of communication and political science at the University of Delaware. She shared the results of her research about how misinformation is created, and how it spreads in society. She wrote a book, “Wrong: How Media, Politics, and Identity Drive Our Appetite for Misinformation,” which was published in 2023.
TCC Connection faculty adviser, Dr. Jerry Goodwin, served as a panelist on the topic of lessons learned from the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. He is a descendant of the survivors of the massacre. Goodwin underlined that the truth about the massacre was hidden from the public for a long time, and it was finally uncovered a hundred years later thanks to a few survivors who took the courage to tell the truth.
After the forum, TCC students were given a tour of the UCO journalism and mass communication facilities. The university offers four-year degrees in interpersonal communication, photographic arts, professional media, and strategic communications.
For more information and to view highlights from the conference, visit facebook.com/ucomediacon2023.
The “War on Truth: Confronting Deception in Media” conference was hosted by the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) in October 2023. (Video by Tatyana Nyborg)