Wittenberg Students Get Lesson On Ethics In Journalism
From Assistant Managing Editor At The New York Times
Springfield, Ohio – Members of the Wittenberg community gathered in Bayley Auditorium in Wittenberg’s Barbara Deer Kuss Science Center to hear New York Times Assistant Managing Editor Craig R. Whitney voice his opinions on ethical journalism and the role of the media in times of war or during the presidential election campaign.
Whitney, an accomplished journalist and foreign correspondent, delivered his presentation to a nearly full house. While the event, made possible by Wittenberg’s affiliation with The New York Times Knowledge Network, was a colloquium sponsored by Wittenberg’s communications and political science departments, students of various majors attended.
The New York Times Knowledge Network offers the newspaper's content to complement faculty-designed courses. It includes access to archives of New York Times dating back to 1851, articles, special sections, multimedia features and contact with accomplished journalists. Whitney said the reasoning behind the Knowledge Network is simple.
“Its purpose is to make students more engaged and more knowledgeable about the world,” he said.
Whitney is responsible for ensuing ethics, accuracy and accountability in The New York Times. His position was created mainly as a result of a scandal that rocked The Times in 2002, when staff reporter Jayson Blair published articles that were later proven to be mostly fabricated. Such a position had never existed previously at The Times.
“[The New York Times] only has one asset; it’s our credibility, and we came close to losing it there,” Whitney said in a meeting with writers from the Torch, Wittenberg’s student-run newspaper.
Throughout the colloquium, Whitney stressed the importance of the media within the political sphere.
“One of the most important things a newspaper can do is keep the public aware of what elected officials are doing,” he said.
Whitney also addressed the issue of newspapers being limited in the name of national security, an issue that he witnessed firsthand during the Vietnam War. He cited the First Amendment to the United States Constitution as a reason for the media to do its job.
“The argument that national security is reason to limit newspapers and journalism has been used in the past,” he said. “But if it doesn’t bring down the U.S., then it shouldn’t be regulated. While we have a vital interest in national security, we also have a vital interest in remaining faithful to the Constitution, which has kept our nation alive and inspired those nations who aspire to freedom.”
However, Whitney does realize that newspapers face difficulties when reporting on events that threaten the safety of the general public and the nation as a whole.
“The secrecy that surrounds the issue of national security makes it difficult to report on,” he said. “Tough criticism of newspapers didn’t start with the Bush administration and won’t end with it, either.”
Whitney knows personally the harsh treatment journalists can endure in the name of informing the public. He was tried and convicted, in absentia, of slander by the Soviet government. Yet he urged his audience not to stand for secrecy when it comes to news.
“I think that you should stand up for your rights as a citizen and demand that your media does its job,” he said.
Concluding the presentation, Whitney reflected on his time spend at Wittenberg.
“One of the things that discourages me is that young people aren’t interested in serious news,” he said. “But after spending two days at Wittenberg, I don’t think that’s true.”
Written by: Rachel Morgan '08
Video By: Ross Ballinger '07