Members of the SMU faculty met at the Faculty Club on Wednesday to discuss the changes in the editorial leadership at The Dallas Morning News (DMN). The club’s key speaker for the event was the head editor of the DMN, Robert Mong.
After a quick prayer by Perkins’ Dr. William Bryan, the Belo Distinguished Chair in Journalism Tony Pederson introduced Mong. He and Pederson have been friends and colleagues for more than 20 years.
Pederson described how Mong joined the DMN and the newspaper industry in general during a great time of change. Mong began working for the DMN in 1979 and eventually worked his way up to the senior editor position in the mid ’90s. During his tenure as managing editor and then as editor, the DMN has racked up eight Pulitzer Prizes for national reporting, investigative journalism and other photography awards.
Mong began the lecture by making a few jokes about his education and memories of radical professors who scared him and taught him a lot at the same time.
He emphasized the relationship between the press and people with higher education. “The press and higher education…have a lot in common,” he said. “They both believe in the First Amendment; they believe that ideas and words play a similar role in life. They also believe that the government and businesses should be held accountable for their actions. There’s always been a natural tension between the press and the public institutions.”
Mong also credited investigative journalists across the nation for bringing into focus subjects that might have otherwise gone unnoticed. Among the examples he chose were the Charles Stuart case involving racism and prejudice in Boston, and the recent Duke University lacrosse scandal.
Investigative journalists from national newspapers discovered both cases.
He also cited some major breakthroughs by the DMN staff writers that have allowed the paper to remain one of the most groundbreaking publications in the South. References were made to the Texas Youth Commission (TYC) investigation earlier this year that led to acquittal for hundreds of incarcerated youths because of inhumane treatment and conditions at facilities across the state.
Another example was the recent investigation of corruption in the Texas Senate, involving laundering and bribery within the senate chambers, which was also discovered by journalists from the DMN.
Mong’s final remarks were on the future of the newspaper industry itself. He argued that viewing the DMN as just a newspaper would inevitably cause them to fall. His focus is on branching out in as many ways as possible to keep up with the ever-changing media of our times. He cited the Al Dia paper as one of the best Spanish newspapers in the country, and he also talked about Quick, a publication oriented toward a younger demographic, and the success of the DMN Web site nationally.
The SMU Faculty Club’s next session of the Distinguished Luncheon Series will be on Nov. 7 with guest speaker Vice President of Student Affairs Lori White.
