Interview with KUJH Producer

The goal of this interview is to research the credibility of a young person within today’s media culture. I wanted to get information from an expert who faces challenges of reporting without bias everyday and analyze it. As a Producer and Reporter at KUJH, my interviewee had a lot of first-hand experience with bias in the news.

My first encounter with my interviewee, Mary Kate Baker, was in the KUJH News studio where I was interested in becoming a part of the KUJH team. I did not end up pursuing a position with the staff, however, I did acquire Mary Kate’s contact information for further questioning. I then, reached out to her to conduct this interview.

Mary Kate Baker

mk.baker14@yahoo.com

The most interesting piece of information that I learned from Mary Kate is the bias that KUJH challenges between the Greek community and non-Greek community. At KU, it is such prominent organization, that KUJH has to keep an unbiased opinion in regards to everything that has to do with Fraternal life on campus. Although not as complex as say, Republicans and Democrats, it’s still a challenge of bias and non-bias media that KUJH must balance.

In regards to balancing media bias on campus at the University of Kansas, Mary Kate Baker has plenty of first-hand experience, and is a very credible source when it comes to reporting for KUJH. However, when considering political news media bias and real-world influences on large media sources, she only has her opinion to give. Although it is interesting to hear, and potentially more educated than the rest of us considering she is affluent in the realm of media and reporting, the information is an opinion and can not be deemed credible.

The follow-up questions I asked where short and gave more clarity to the story Mary Kate was telling. For example, after telling me that she was also a producer for KUJH, I then followed up asking her how many people she oversaw. The story that I got from Mary Kate was one that summed up the challenges faced by the media (no matter how small) to present the public with news that is unbiased and truly shows each side of the story.

Utilizing the Freedom of Information

This post is intended to present readers with information and data from a credible government source. The information I found is data collected from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) regarding the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) and what they spend their money on. I intend on evaluating this information with a critical eye for credibility along with any bias towards certain networks that might stem from the investment of the Broadcasting Board of Governors.

When searching for this information, I started with usa.gov, a website that provides access to government information and agencies. I began by searching for information based of my topic, bias in the media, and came across the Freedom of Information Act. I followed the link to this site, coming across data about the Broadcasting Board of Governors. After viewing this sight, I found a PDF of the agency’s annual report. Below you can find the links to all three of these sights:

http://www.usa.gov/

http://www.foia.gov/glance.html

http://www.bbg.gov/wp-content/media/2015/02/BBG.FY14.FINAL_.pdf

The FOIA is a law enacted in 1966 to allow citizens the right to view federal agency records. A request to view an agency record is available to anyone at any time. Often time, people consider the Freedom of Information Act the law that keeps “people in the know about their government”.

The Freedom of Information Act provided information about the budget that is allotted to the Broadcasting Board of Governors. Over $202 million is given to the agency, all while $200 million is given to Voice of America. The law also provided information that the Broadcasting Board of Governors is exempted from providing “information that is prohibited from disclosure by another federal law”.

This document is very credible considering that it is a result of the government’s inability to withhold information from citizen’s if requested, unless the information falls under one of nine exemptions listed under the Freedom of Information Act. A quarterly report, one from the beginning of 2015 would make this document more credible, however, the annual report gives a larger, better overview of the Broadcasting Board of Governors actions. This document provides me with a reassurance that the government is withheld to a certain standard of being unbiased and providing true information to the public. However, I am now curious how media portrays this government information.