Journalistic Credibility, Parental Depression, Harper Lee

JOURNALISTIC CREDIBILITY Allegations continue to spread about Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor of "NBC Nightly News," was embellishing or making up facts on two major news stories he was involved with. We talk with Robert Walz, a professor of journalism at BYU, who compared it to a doctor losing his professional respect for "killing the patient." He said there's a zero-tolerance policy among journalists for false facts. If the allegations turn out to be true, NBC would have to fire Williams, though Walz believes they won't because Williams is more of an entertainer than a real journalist. He describes Williams as a commoddity NBC uses to sell credibility to its audience. PARENTING ROLES AND DEPRESSION In stressful family circumstances, parenthood sometimes take a bigger toll on fathers’ mental health. We talk with Dr. Kevin Shafer, a professor of social work at BYU, who explored this topic with researchers at Princeton University. He says parents who take on multiple roles at home are more likely to be stressed and suffer depression. “If you say parenting and depression, the first thing people think of is postpartum moms,” said Kevin Shafer, a professor of social work at BYU. “But both moms and dads experience stress and certain kinds of parenting roles that can be very, very stressful.” SEQUEL "TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD" Harper Lee is a notoriously private person, says Kristin Matthews, a BYU professor of English at BYU. So it caught many of us off guard last week when she announced she was releasing a sequel to her best-selling novel "To Kill a Mockingbird."  We explore the controversy around her announcement. Matthews tells us that Lee's sister spent her life shielding her from the media, but she died recently. That lends the possibility that Lee may not be in sound mind, or she's being taken advantage of.