Stuart Knechtle
I was lucky enough to listen three times to Jody Hassett Sanchez when she came to Gordon last week and it didn’t take long for me to understand why she has had such a successful career as a journalist. One of the very first points she made during her talk on Thursday was giving people news that hits them directly in the heart. Films or stories like this make people want to move away from passivity towards action. She said that this takes “compelling characters and good stories.” She went on to say that you can’t just stop there though, but that you also have to help your reader or audience feel like they are relating to the characters. Specifically, she said that in her film she wanted her viewers to meet the children, not simply give them an idea or statistic about them. This point ran right alongside her starting point on Friday when she said, “How do you show faith in Journalism and not just talk about it?” She was sounding the call for us as Christian journalists to get out there and make things happen by living out what we believe. Sanchez said that even though our news universe has splintered through decentralization, we as journalists can still make a difference for good if we keep God as our boss and never feel like we should assume his position by judging others.
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