The Online Reflector

By Marcus Whalbring
Entertainment Editor

Publisher, president and chief executive of the Los Angeles Times, David Hiller, was the guest speaker for the second annual Jerry and Carol Israel Lecture on Public Policy in Ransburg Auditorium Feb. 21. Hiller spoke to University of Indianapolis students and faculty about the business of news media and the importance of news in society.

According to President Beverley Pitts, the Israel lecture series was started in honor of former President Jerry Israel, who retired in 2005, and his wife Carol. The goal of the series is to inform students about national issues and public policy.

“I want students to be interested in what’s happening around them and be politically involved,” Pitts said. “I’m really hoping our students support this.”

Before Hiller started at the Los Angeles Times in October 2006, he was the president and publisher of the Chicago Tribune. Before that, he worked in a law firm after receiving his bachelor’s and law degrees from Harvard University.

Hiller’s lecture covered various aspects of the news media. He began by discussing new forms of media and how they have affected America’s citizens, specifically the Internet and the increasing dependence that many have placed on it.

“It’s nice to see us all sitting together rather than sitting at our computers,” Hiller said.

Hiller mentioned that the growth of technology has affected the news media in positive ways. He said there’s more news being covered than there was in the past because of the number of radio and television stations, publications and the Internet.

Hiller also discussed other positive signs in the success of the news media. One was that the present interest in news among adults is at about 50 percent. But Hiller also said that the news business faces challenges as well.

“If we’re going to be successful and prosperous, we have to make more headway in the state of education,” Hiller said. “We can’t be successful in the news if we’re not well educated.”

Aside from the responsibility of educators and parents, Hiller mentioned that the Los Angeles Times was involved in “Reading by 9,” program that aids parents and teachers in getting students reading at grade-level by the age of nine, according to the L.A. Times Web site (latimes.com).

“When I was growing up, we had newspapers and magazines, and it was important to read them and know what was going on,” Hiller said.

The lecture then transitioned to the changing relationship between news media and its consumers and a quote by Arthur Miller that’s engraved in the Chicago Tribune tower: “A good newspaper, I suppose, is a nation talking to itself.” Hiller connected this quote to all forms of media and said that consumers and advertisers are influencing the news more than editors. He said editors used to think, “It’s not a news story unless we say it is.” And now that technology has grown and given consumers more options, consumers are looking for a news source they can trust.

“As we look at the new media, we have to realize that what we do and how we connect means more than what medium we use,” Hiller said.

Hiller said that news media can maintain the trust of their consumers in two ways: they have to make sure that no opinion flows into the news story, and they have to be more open to consumers. In other words, they must explain the internal workings and decisions to the consumers.

Hiller ended the lecture by explaining that students who study media will be a large part of keeping the business going.

Israel said he was pleased with the lecture.

“I think Mr. Hiller put it well that there are not enough opportunities to sit down and actually reflect on these issues,” Israel said. “It’s important that the University has an opportunity like this for students.”