New evidence reveals deceptive reports
After reviewing a full recording of a post-election forum held on campus last November, The Hawk has verified that a version of the recording published earlier this month on a national conservative website and later highlighted on Fox News was altered.
The recording, posted Feb. 8 on the website CampusReform, features remarks made by David Parry, Ph.D., associate professor and chair of the communication studies department, at a Nov. 10 event titled “Making Sense of the Presidential Election.”
The Hawk confirmed the recording posted on the website was heavily edited, cutting sentences that provide context, changing the order of Parry’s words, and removing applause from those in the room. In the full recording, Parry speaks for at least eight minutes. The altered version runs for two minutes and 30 seconds.
Almost two weeks after the story and edited recording appeared on CampusReform, Parry became the subject of a Fox News segment.
The host of the Fox News show Watters’ World, Jesse Watters, came to campus Feb. 14 to question Parry and Saint Joseph’s University students about the altered audio recording.
In the Fox segment, which previewed on the morning show Fox & Friends on Feb. 17 and aired on Watters’ World on Feb. 18, Watters incorrectly stated that Parry was responsible for teaching student journalists. Parry does not teach journalism classes. Watters also stated that Parry’s comments were made in a classroom setting. The statements were made at a public forum where Parry was one of five speakers.
Parry told The Hawk he agreed to speak at the forum because he felt it was an appropriate and welcoming environment to discuss how to move forward post-election. The event, and Parry’s invitation to speak, were planned prior to the outcome of the election.
Fox News contacted St. Joe’s for a response before the segment aired on Feb. 18.
“We made it very clear that Dr. Parry was neither speaking in class nor representing the University,” said Joseph M. Lunardi, St. Joe’s assistant vice president for marketing communications.“Fox did not incorporate that information in its report.”
The Fox News segment prompted responses from many students, alumni, and outsiders.
“The University has received a higher than average volume of calls and emails since the report,” Lunardi said. “Well over 90 percent of those contacting us have no affiliation with Saint Joseph’s.”
Mike Lyons, Ph. D., assistant professor of communication studies, said Watters’ World takes what “plausibly could be thought of as a news topic and surrounds it with 10 seconds of opinion here and there.”
“It’s [Watters’ World] not meant to elucidate or explicate a topic, it’s not meant to produce knowledge,” Lyons said. “It’s meant to reinforce what [Watters] already believes to be true, and it’s meant to reinforce in Fox News’ case, a company kind of institutional belief.”
Parry told The Hawk that one of the missing components of the story, besides the fact that he was not delivering a classroom lecture, is the 90-minute dialogue he had with students after his remarks. Also missing, he said, was the context of his remarks, which included his “deep sympathy” for “people in communities who are suffering under economic disparity.”
Here at St. Joe’s, the incident has ignited a debate about academic freedom, particularly what students and faculty have the right to say, where they have the right to say it, and when it can be recorded.
The Student Handbook prohibits “making, distributing, or publishing a media recording of any person without that person’s consent and/or prior knowledge (e.g., audio, picture, video, Google Glass),” said Cary Anderson, Ed.D., vice president of Student Life and Associate Provost in an e-mail. “We are not specific to the venue of the recording. Each incident is fact specific and would be judged on the facts.”
Jeanne F. Brady, Ph.D., provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, said the university remains “committed to honest inquiry and the fair presentation of differing viewpoints.”
“Saint Joseph’s University has always supported and continues to support an environment that encourages the free and candid exchange of ideas while assuring that the exchange is always conducted in a respectful manner,” Brady said.
Faculty Senate president Ann Green, Ph.D., professor of English, said she is concerned with preserving academic freedom.
“Taking someone and taking any remark out of context shuts down the conversation which is antithetical to what universities are about,” Green said. “I think it’s particularly antithetical to Jesuit universities where we are always thinking about finding God in all things. It is important to our growth as intellectuals, as people, that we trust one another and we have these conversations.”
The University Student Senate reiterated in a statement to The Hawk on Feb. 13 that they wish to uphold a respectful and tolerant environment.
“In a moment of controversy, the University Student Senate reaffirms its dedication to a respectful, unitive, and free exchange of perspectives,” the statement said. “We encourage open-mindedness in the exchange of ideas by all members of the Saint Joseph’s University community. Ultimately, as our Senate’s community ideals state, True diversity is not only represented by different people, but also by an open exchange of the ideas they each espouse.”
Parry concluded the resulting rhetoric was damaging to public discourse, and now is the time to go forward.
