Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 8, 1990 TAG: 9006080731
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Having never heard of Winzenburg, I contacted him by phone to discuss his survey. I made two simple requests: (1) a copy of his news release about his study and (2) a copy of the study itself.
Rather than sending me the two items he promised, Winzenburg instead sent me a most unusual letter. It appears that after he was challenged by me and representatives of many of the ministers mentioned in the study, Winzenburg's computer mysteriously "ate over 30 pages of material," thus requiring him to start over.
While I realize that most newspapers relied on The Associated Press for this story, I am suggesting that this sort of news item should not simply be printed across the country without at least some very basic verification. Thanks to the media, a simple news release on a college letterhead from Des Moines, Iowa, has established this particular professor as an instant authority and expert on television ministries in this country.
Winzenburg acknowledges that not one reporter in America contacted him to verify any of his data or to even discuss the study. He also acknowledges that there is nothing particularly scientific about his methodology. And now, in a most unimpressive fashion, he claims that much of his original data no longer exists due to a "computer problem."
I trust in the future that media outlets will handle such materials more responsibly.
\ MARK DeMOSS\ Director of Media Relations for Jerry Falwell\ Liberty University\ LYNCHBURG
by CNB