What a Young Christian Journalist Who Showed Empathy to a Hate Group Learned From Her Demotion (Interview)
A Christian student journalist who lost her job in a row ignited by a hate group says she now believes she should have kept her empathy for the people in the group more "in check." But she's not afraid of taking a risky stand in the future.
Nicole DeCriscio, who served as editor-in-chief of The DePauw University student newspaper in Greencastle, Indiana, last fall, was "removed" from her position in October after she covered a heated story on campus: the presence of The Campus Ministry USA, a group of traveling protesters who visit multiple colleges, saying they are evangelicals but holding offensive signs and chanting controversial slogans that involve references to rape, drugs, drinking, and promiscuity.
"On a personal level, I've always thought that my empathy toward my subject was what made me a really good journalist. But I've learned ... that if I don't keep empathy in check, bad things can happen," she said, in an interview with The Christian Post. Being a journalist requires one to "tip-toe the line" between empathy and objectivity, she argued.
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The group's visit to DePauw University last year resulted in tense counter-protests from students and staff members, with one female student throwing a hot cup of coffee on the four protesters. Another student and a staff member were detained by police when they attempted to approach the demonstrators.
As editor-in-chief, DeCriscio covered, and directed coverage of, The Campus Ministry USA's visits to DePauw's campus. She also met with the extremist group's organizer, Brother Jed Smock, off campus to discuss the controversy that had erupted.
Additionally, the student journalist wrote an opinion piece for The Odyssey, a content sharing site for millennials in which she is also editor-in-chief, in an article titled, "Why I Brought Brother Jed a Sandwich," which explains her decision to deliver food and drinks to members of The Campus Ministry USA during their protest.
"What I have found is that Smock and other members of The Campus Ministry USA are completely different when you talk to them on an individual level. They are far gentler, and the love in their message, which isn't conveyed when they're screaming on sidewalks, shines through," DeCriscio wrote in the op-ed.
DeCriscio said she took food and drinks to the protesters because she is a Christian, and "as such, I believe that God calls me and other Christians to universally show the love of Christ to others."
"You don't just turn this outpouring of love on or off depending on who it's directed toward," She argued.
