Professional growth and ethics in journalism was the focus for the annual Society of Adventist Communicators convention held Oct. 9 to 12 in Orlando, Florida.
Professional growth and ethics in journalism was the focus for the annual Society of Adventist Communicators convention held Oct. 9 to 12 in Orlando, Florida.
Sponsored by the church in North America, more than 175 Adventist communicators attended the conference, which included topics ranging from Web site development to marketing and advertising strategies.
“You can get some of the same seminars at the larger conventions but you miss the networking with Adventists,” said Ryan Teller, communication director for the church in the Mid-America region and newly elected president of SAC. “A primary benefit of the convention is networking and being able to help each other with solutions to similar problems.”
Attendees discussed journalism ethics in the wake of the Jayson Blair reporting scandal at the New York Times. Many newspapers and media outlets have since re-evaluated their hiring and promotion policies, as well as the way in which news stories are verified. Crystal Candy, reporter for WKMG-Local6 in Orlando, Florida; Dan Thesman, producer for KERO-TV Channel 23 in Bakersfield, California; and Kyna Hinson, communication professor at Oakwood College addressed ethical issues in present day media in a panel session.
Priscilla Jones and Kim Eddy, students at Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska, personify the impact they see SAC making on them. “It is fun meeting people and getting their advice” Eddy said. “It is also important to know how they came to get their jobs.”
SONscreen, an annual Adventist film festival that runs in conjunction with SAC, now in its second year, features films produced by college aged and professional Adventists. The films are judged and awarded prizes. This year’s award for “Best of Show” and “Documentary/Promotional Category” was Chosin, a film about the Korean conflict, by Marcel Eisele. The winner in the “Feature/Narrative Category” was Inside Me by Robert Escalante. Andy Hass won the “Animation/Graphics Category” with his film, El Dunuto.
Filmmaker Rick Swartzwelder described the movie making business and how it is possible to be a Christian in Hollywood: “You can tell stories that are wholesome. I wouldn’t ask an actor to do something that I wouldn’t ask Jesus to do,” he said.
Awards were handed out during an Oct. 11 banquet. Celeste Ryan, vice president for communication for the church in the mid-Atlantic United States region, received the Young Professional Award, while Dr. Lorne Dickinson, professor at Walla Walla College in Washington state, received the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Next year the SAC Convention will be held in Dallas, Texas. More information on the group can be found at
http://www.adventistcommunicator.org
