Last Friday, Emmy award-winning producer Jennifer Duck spoke to students in Thom Storey’s Media Ethics class about her career journey and ethical reporting. Duck is currently the producer of CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360.”
She recently returned from 10 straight days on the ground with Cooper in Ferguson, Missouri, directing all the show’s live news coverage of the demonstrations and riots following the shooting death of teenager Michael Brown. Duck discussed the challenges of photo ethics and how they handled Brown’s death while respecting requests of his family. In addition, she touched on her approach to getting information from the public.
“We went around the area and talked directly to witnesses. People respond better to face-to-face interaction than an email or phone call,” Duck said. “The best reporting comes from going on the ground and talking to people.”
In reference to the death reports on Robin Williams and Joan Rivers, Duck discussed the ethics of getting the story right versus getting it first.
“If CNN can’t confirm on our own, we won’t attribute it or run it. You never know how credible those sources are,” she said.
She also showed clips of her work at CNN and talked about how she arrived at the TV channel. She discussed her previous work as producer for Katie Couric’s syndicated show in New York and the talent and development director for the launch of the OWN network. In addition, she was a backpack journalist covering the McCain and Obama presidential campaigns for ABC News in 2008.
“[Networking], that’s the biggest thing you should take from this. Connections are crucial,” Duck said. “When you meet someone, take their business card and keep it forever.”
Belmont University catapulted today into the Top 5 in U.S. News & World Report’s annual rankings of America’s Best Colleges in the South region. After three years at No. 7, Belmont’s ranking at No. 5 for the publication’s 2015 edition marks another check on the University’s 
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization recently released a report that cites 
Mallory White, a class of 2016 mathematics major, passed Actuarial Exam P/1 on her first try on May 24
Massachusetts Institute of Technology-trained physicist Dr. Deborah Haarsma spoke to students, faculty and staff about the intersection of science and faith during a convocation lecture in the Belmont University Chapel on Wednesday.
Congressman Marsha Blackburn joined Belmont’s Pipeline Project students earlier this month in historical Columbia Studio A to hear about their summer research and suggestions regarding licensing reform. Marc Driskill, general manager of Sea Gayle Music and chair of the Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP), and Brad Peterson of 5/3 Bank engaged Belmont and the nine Pipeline students this summer to take a deeper dive into the current copyright conversations that will shape these students’ futures. The students shared their research of identifying common patterns between stakeholders and expressed what they thought to be the ‘three keys to licensing reform’: efficiency, fair compensation and understanding. The students will be submitting a full proposal to the copyright office regarding their recommendations in addition to presenting at an open forum to students and the music industry in late September.