'Next with Kyle Clark' Broadcasts Live from DU, Followed by Discussion on Democracy with Chancellor Haefner

With misinformation running rampant, finding the truth has become more challenging than ever. On Tuesday evening, University of Denver Chancellor Jeremy Haefner and 9News anchor Kyle Clark took the stage at the Newman Center to discuss the topic of “Media and Democracy: What Happens When We Can’t Agree on the Facts?”

The free public event, moderated by Derigan Silver, faculty director for civil discourse and free expression and chair of the Department of Media, Film and Journalism Studies, the conversation was the first in a series of events DU is hosting this academic year related on pluralism and thought expression. You can watch the conversation here.

Clark hosted his program, “Next With Kyle Clark,” on campus prior to the event, interviewing several DU students about their comfort level in expressing their views in class and elsewhere. A 9News anchor since 2007, Clark has received more than 20 Emmy awards and four Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for Excellence in Innovation for “Next,” which launched in 2016. 

“When societies do not have shared realities—basic sets of facts that people understand to be true for them to bring their own life experiences, ideas and impressions to—dangerous things happen in society,” said Clark. “People turn against their neighbors in unimaginable ways, which suddenly become entirely imaginable when you understand that people believe untruths about others and situations.”

Chancellor Haefner emphasized the crucial role of truth-seeking in higher education institutions.

“A university has a mission to teach, to do great research, to serve the community. But I think the real question is how does it do that?” Chancellor Haefner said. “Central to all three of those is a commitment, a principle, a pledge—that we’re here to seek the truth.”

The two discussed the challenge of rising distrust in both the news media and academic institutions. 

“Making the public better understand the work that we are doing and how it impacts them—how it is engrained in a process that really is after the truth—is our best weapon to combat the public mistrust in us, and the questioning of what we’re doing in higher ed,” said Haefner. 

Clark echoed the importance of community involvement in restoring trust. “I’m convinced that fixing the problem is local up, not national down. [It’s about] taking your work into the community in an approachable, respectful way, that says, ‘You’re an intelligent person who simply is not an expert in this thing, but you care, this matters to you, let me meet you in conversation about this.’”

Following the event, Clark took questions from Liam Piper, news editor for the DU Clarion, on the importance of student and local journalism.