The Journalist as Researcher

Utah State University faculty member Michael Sweeney wants to make it clear that journalism includes a healthy dose of research so it is not a fluke that a journalist is included in the Sunrise Sessions.


Sunrise Sessions are a series of breakfast lectures in Salt Lake City that highlight timely and cutting-edge research at Utah State University. Sweeney was the featured guest Friday, Oct. 5.

Journalists aim to become “instant experts,” Sweeney told the assembled crowd at the early morning gathering.

- Journalists use the interview as the primary information-gathering tool. Such interviews are constrained by multiple factors, including culture, politics, religion and education.

- Journalists aim to expand knowledge in new directions.

- Journalists publish their “findings” and receive feedback.

 

Sweeney, who is a professor of journalism at Utah State University and department head for Journalism and Communication, approached the task of collaborating on the memoir God Grew Tired of Us as a journalist. The book, written with John Bul Dau, was published by National Geographic in 2007. A popular documentary of the same title chronicling the story of Dau, a Lost Boy of Sudan, was also released in the spring 2007, having won top honors at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival.

 

Sweeney was approached by National Geographic for the project, and following what he called an “audition interview” with Dau, he received the assignment. He completed extensive research before traveling to Syracuse, N.Y., for a 10-day marathon of interviews.

 

“There were difficulties to overcome,” Sweeney said of the project. “Difficulties in language, culture and background. Yet the collaboration was a success.”

 

The pair hit it off immediately, and their personalities are similar.

 

“He’s curious, pleasant and outgoing, and so am I,” Sweeney said with a smile.

 

Dau is an engaging speaker, and when he walks into a room, all can feel the power of his presence, Sweeney said.

 

“My Sunrise Session tells the story of John Bul Dau and the book,” Sweeney said. “I wanted to tell his story without getting in the way. This is his story. John Bul Dau was born a Dinka in Sudan and is now an American in Syracuse, N.Y. He is grateful to this country.”

 

Today, Dau spends his time as a motivational speaker and raising money for the John Dau Foundation to provide medical facilities in southern Sudan.

 

“John has raised $550,000 so far and one clinic has been built,” Sweeney said. “And now, there are more in the works. Medical care is scarce, and these clinics are important. Many of the medical problems in Sudan are preventable, and these clinics will play an enormous role. John is making an incredible difference.”

 

Since collaborating on the book project, Sweeney has continued contact with Dau, last seeing him in Park City in early September 2007. Dau loves coming to Utah, Sweeney said. Nearly half of the $550,000 Dau has raised for his foundation has come from Utah.

 

Sweeney wants to emphasize in his Sunrise Session that journalists do important work. Telling John Dau’s story is an example, but he has used that approach in all his books, which now total seven, five for National Geographic Press. The military, war time and censorship are areas of expertise and interest. He is the author of The Military and the Press: An Uneasy Truce; From the Front: The Story of War Featuring Correspondents’ Chronicles and Secrets of Victory: The Office of Censorship and the American Press and Radio in World War II.

 

“Many think that journalists are a mere pipeline, an echo chamber passing along information,” Sweeney said. “Others hold the opposite view that journalists are crafty, promoting a personal agenda. Neither is the truth. Journalists are just like any professional. We are trying to serve an audience — in this case, the public. We want to make a difference in the world. That’s what I teach and that’s what I practice.”

 

 

 

Contact: Michael S. Sweeney (435) 797-3213, mike.sweeney@usu.edu
Writer: Patrick Williams (435) 797-1354, patrick.williams@usu.edu