Columns:: Worth Repeating

since 12/15/98

Columns::January 14, 2002

Worth repeating

Cynthia Tucker, editorial page editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, delivered the Ralph McGill Lecture Nov. 14. She focused on the role of the media in the post-Sept. 11 world. Some highlights:
“The collapse of the Soviet empire allowed America to lapse into a self-indulgent concern with issues of personal comfort and prosperity that left no room for interest in foreign affairs--or even the important affairs of the republic. News organizations gave up their historic roles as government watchdogs and conduits of critical information to give news consumers what we believed they wanted. Foreign news coverage disappeared from the big three TV networks and shrank on the pages of mainstream newspapers. . . .
“The good news is that Sept. 11 proved that newspapers had not forgotten how to cover real news. . . . Indeed, these are exciting times for newspapers because we have been handed a perfect opportunity to return to the fundamental missions upon which we were founded--giving citizens the news they need to be informed participants in a democracy. . . .
“The challenge for newspapers is staying focused in the days ahead, as the war on terror ebbs and flows, and the natural longing for normalcy is accompanied by a longing for a return to synthetic news. . . .
“The press faces a second challenge, as well--staying faithful to our commitment to deliver clear-eyed and unbiased news coverage in a time of overwhelming pressure for a sycophantic patriotism. . . .
“Back in the day of Edward R. Murrow, news was delivered as a public service. Broadcast news divisions, especially, were not expected to make a profit. But after more and more news outlets were concentrated in the hands of publicly traded companies, that changed. . . . For many news organizations, the pressure is intense. The challenge in the days ahead is to keep covering the news, no matter how much it costs.”

--Beth Roberts

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