After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, journalists in the United States avoided asking tough questions of the Bush administration because they were afraid to be labeled as unpatriotic or lose access to officials in the White House, said journalist Gary Younge.
Younge, who writes columns for London’s The Guardian newspaper and contributes to The Nation magazine, spoke at a lecture titled “Misled by the mainstream: How the media fail to inform” held on campus last Friday.
Originally, organizers planned to have former CBS producer Mary Mapes speak as well, but she was unable to attend because of illness. Mapes was Dan Rather’s producer on “60 Minutes” when the show aired a controversial segment about President George Bush’s National Guard service.
Mary Dickson, creative director at KUED-TV, moderated the discussion and asked Younge about the reluctance of some reporters to ask difficult questions.
“Sept. 11 was a huge shock,” Younge said. “In those moments, countries tend not to ask the most difficult questions.”
After Sept. 11, people were mourning and didn’t want to face the problem at hand, so many reporters avoided asking difficult questions, Younge said.
“If there was ever a time when America needed good journalism, it was when it was preparing for war and had just been attacked,” he said.
Both Younge and Dickson talked about journalists being like “birds on a wire.” Leading up to the Iraq war, all the birds are on one wire, Dixon said. After a while, one brave bird ventures to the other wire — as all the others watch to see whether the bird will be electrocuted or land safely. When the other birds see the first land safely, they follow.
“There is a desire among journalists from the public for bravery and for a sense of courage to make themselves vulnerable that isn’t being displayed anywhere else in the culture,” Younge said. “In general, the first one or two birds get fried.”
Younge also discussed the illusion of objectivity in the media.
“There is this misbelief that there is such a thing as pure objectivity, as opposed to fairness or accuracy,” said Younge, adding that readers are better served when reporters strive to be fair rather than striving to be objective.
“I think we tend to get so caught up in our quest to be objective that we neglect to give people enough information to form an opinion on either side,” said Allison Roesberry, a junior in mass communication who attended the lecture. “I don’t know how who you are can’t somehow bleed into what you write or how you present it, because who you are colors how you perceive everything that you take in.”
Teresa GettenGary Younge speaks at a lecture titled “Misled by the mainstream