"Second-rate fiction."

That's how Dr. Kyle Huckins of Regent University characterized Edmund Morris's "Dutch" in a recent Regent University panel discussion on the controversial biography of Ronald Reagan.

Six writers spoke to students, professors and others during the event.

Marvin L. Lake, public editor at The Virginian-Pilot, noted that book took the focus off Reagan and placed it on the fictional characters Morris created.

"Random House should print out something that says 'novel' and slap it over the title," Lake said.

CBN Broadcaster John Waage noted the popularity of the book is enhanced by the mass media that is hyping the unconventional approach used by Morris.

Kerry Sipe, a Virginian-Pilot editor, considered the Morris approach to biography dated and referred the audience to the myths associated with George Washington and the cherry tree.

Writer Michael D'Orso, author of 11 non-fiction books including Walking With the Wind, (Simon & Shuster, 1998), encouraged the journalism students in the audience to work hard to get the facts and not resort to fiction to avoid writer's block. For instance, rather than invent a character who met Reagan at Eureka College, find someone who was Reagan's classmate, D'Orso said.

"We're entering a fun house of mirrors, not knowing what is truth," said D'Orso.

Prof. John Lawing, chair of Regent's School of Journalism, offered a divergent point of view, saying that the narrative changes over time.

"If it hadn't," he said, "we would still be writing the epic poem."

Dr. Michael Smith, journalism historian and a former news reporter, noted that mass media in the United States is a business.

"As journalism, it's a F," he said. "As history, it's a D, but as fiction, it's quite good. In these postmodernist days, that's biography American-style."

-- Michael R. Smith, Ph.D., Journalism, Regent University (posted 10/20, 4:45 p.m., E.D.T.)

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