Former journalist Jason Pederson dove into his time on Channel 7, sharing anecdotes with students about what it was like to expose scammers on the segment “7 on Your Side.” 

Rob Moritz, a journalism professor and adviser for the UCA Society of Professional Journalists, introduced Pederson as a reporter who worked for Channel 7 for over two decades. 

“He also was probably best known for his ‘7 on Your Side,’ where he would travel Arkansas and write about scams and just people who were trying to take advantage of situations — it became a very popular show on Channel 7,” Moritz said. 

Pederson said his time in journalism helped him with the job he is currently doing.

“I left TV about five and a half years ago, after 27 years in television news here in Arkansas. I now work for the Department of Human Services,” he said. “I am the director of constituent services, so ‘7 on Your Side’ helped all of Arkansas with problems of any kind. Now I’m just helping Arkansans who get Medicaid and may have a problem with their food stamps or may have a problem with their Medicaid insurance, ARHome, whatever they have.” 

Pederson spoke about his time helping people who were scammed for his broadcast segment. Pederson said there were eight repeat offenders, who he called the dishonest eight.

“One guy, Marshall Hancock, his initial scam was he would rent bounce houses to a chamber of commerce or a church that was having an event with kids, and then the day of the event, all of a sudden, he would check the forecast — ‘there’s a 30% chance of rain. I can’t come. It’s in the contract,’” Pederson said.  “He would keep the money. He wouldn’t refund their money. And so we did a bunch of stories on that, where no one else will rent his bounce houses. Everyone in Arkansas knows don’t rent from him. So now he’s selling bounce houses, or he’s selling cotton candy machines, or he’s selling things on the internet.” 

Pederson also discussed how it’s important for journalists to remain objective and not show bias. He showed two clips from his reporting on medical marijuana in Arkansas and asked the audience if they could recognize his bias. 

“Now, what I want you to listen for, or look for, is I definitely have an opinion about marijuana use and the legalization of marijuana. See if you can detect this in these two pieces. What is my opinion? If you can’t, that means I did my job,” he said.

After watching the clips, junior Harley Walls, a marketing major, said, “To me, it kind of seemed like you were against it. I feel like in a lot of the interviews and the way that you were speaking, it just kind of seemed to have a negative connotation.” 

Pederson said Walls was right, at the time, he was slightly against the legalization of marijuana.

“I was not in favor of marijuana being legalized in the state, and I was afraid of that bias, that it would seep in,” he said. “So this is a little trick of the trade if you’re ever reading a news story or watching a news story, if a reporter has a bias, generally, if they’re going to present two sides to an issue, more than likely the first side they present is the one they agree with.” 

Sophomore Emily Armstrong, a world languages major, came to the event to get bonus points in her media and society class. She said although she had never heard of Pederson, he sounded interesting, so she decided to go to the event. 

“I learned a lot about the journalism industry in general,” Armstrong said. “I learned more about censorship and how much thought really goes into the process of  just journalism in general.” 

Armstrong said her favorite part of Pederson’s talk was the stories he shared. 

“I enjoyed the little anecdotes and stories that I wouldn’t have heard of unless I bought the

book,” she said. “You just can’t find these little anecdotes anywhere. You gotta meet the person in person.”