INDIANA
CHAPTER
DINFOS ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
P.O. BOX 26925
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA 46226-9001
The
twentieth meeting of the Indiana Chapter of the DINFOS
Alumni Association was held on November 8, 2003, at ll:00 am
at The Garrison at Ft. Harrison State Park. Attached is a
listing of those who attended.
The
meeting began with an Invocation by Colonel John Christy,
USA-Ret.
Next, all
present were asked to introduce themselves. A listing of
those in attendance is attached.
The
President read messages received from some members who
couldn’t attend the meeting – Colonel Larry Icenogle,
USA-Ret, John Eagles, Dean Farr, Mike Davis and Rod Hargo.
Dave
Mossbarger, Membership Chairman, gave an update on
memberships. He mentioned that we currently have 113
lifetime members and 30 regular members. He mentioned there
were quite a few members whose memberships had expired. A
couple of people at the meeting renewed their memberships.
Dave also read a letter received from Jonathan Kapstein, who
taught at DINFOS from 1962 to 1964. He mentioned he had
recently checked our website and found it to be excellent.
He was most impressed.
A moment
of silence was then observed for several DINFOS alumni and
associates who had died during the last six months. These
individuals were: David Byrd, Jr., Frank Wilson, Myriam
Rath, Bob Harlem, Jack Lee and Herb Gardner. (Jim DeHaven,
who passed away on November 11, will also be missed.)
Dr. Rubak then introduced the guest
speaker, Paul Page, ABC/ESPN Sports and known as “Mr. Motor
Racing.” He was a 1967 broadcasting graduate of a DINFOS.
His topic was the Changing Face of Network TV.” The
following are some of the highlights from his speech.
-
Paul mentioned how honored he was
to be in the presence of Colonel John Christy who was the
Commandant when he attended DINFOS, and how pleased he was
to have served in the late 60’s with incredible people who
shaped his life. He learned more at DINFOS in the six
months he was there than he did anywhere else.
-
Paul feels that journalism today in
this country is in trouble, and he’s being an advocate for
good journalism. He’s seen much bias and not a lot of
interchange between journalists. We seem to be teaching
our journalism students that style is more important than
factual news. He spoke of Columbine and how America is
becoming a dissatisfied and fearful nation because today’s
journalism does not include factual substance. New
journalists are taught to come up with a story and then
its problems rather than the facts that lead to an
authentic story. It is time that the industry re-examines
what it teaches.
-
Paul praised the late Fred Heckman,
director of WIBC News, who understood his journalistic
responsibilities. He asked his reporters to not depend on
what other people told them but find out the facts
themselves. He implored them to think about their
dedication toward good journalism with honesty and
integrity.
-
Paul further stated how impressed
he was by the imbedded reporters in Iraq. If we had only
told the truth on the political level, everything would
have been fine.
-
He ended his presentation by saying
how all aglow Camp Atterbury is these days. He recently
was part of a training mission with the FBI SWAT team
there and served as a bad guy. There are all kinds of
activities taking place at Camp Atterbury to include some
Navy training.
Paul Page received a very
enthusiastic applause by all of those present for his
excellent presentation. His speech was followed by
questions and complimentary comments.
Dr. Rubak mentioned that the most
recent update on DINFOS at Ft. Meade could be found in the
minutes of the last meeting held on June 13, 2003.
The last agenda item was the showing
of the videotape on the dedication ceremony naming the
DINFOS Library, the SSG Paul Savanuck Library.
The meeting adjourned at 11:25.
