Cockburn derides failures of media

photo by Jenna Campbell

Alexander Cockburn, co-editor of "Counterpunch," a political newsletter on the Internet, spoke to University of La Verne students and faculty last week in the Hoover Building. Cockburn also writes for The Nation, the New York Post, and co-authored "Whiteout: The CIA, Drugs and the Press." His most recent book is titled "The Politics of Anti-Semitism."

by Bailey Porter
LV Life Editor

Amid the political upheaval ­ world events and media coverage that perpetually shape the lives of every person in contemporary society either directly or indirectly ­ is an opportunity for Americans to be more critical observers of the news.

Question must be raised about the content of mainstream media coverage and whether the real problems are being addressed by the mainstream media, said journalist and social commentator Alexander Cockburn in a talk given on Oct. 30 in the Hoover Building.

Citing recent examples of various ethical shortcomings in the news media, Cockburn evaluated the New York Times reporter Jayson Blair who resigned in May after the Times found plagiarism and inaccuracies in he majority of stories spanning his short career. This scandal forced the resignations of top editors at the paper as well.

The public was shown evidence that the correction box in the paper issuing the correct spelling of someone's name does not mean the Times did not get anything else wrong in the paper that day, he said.

With the dry sense of humor that set the tone of his talk, Cockburn said, "I greeted the news with unmitigated glee."

One example was the fabrication of details in the Jessica Lynch story.

The real story in this case was not the "colorful quotes" that Blair used, Cockburn said, but the Jessica Lynch story itself that was a misconstrued public relations exercise by the Pentagon.

After all, nothing about Lynch as a prisoner of war turned out to be true. She was never treated badly in that hospital nor were there guards outside her room.

Blair's choice to use false information was not important. What should have been the focus and the impetus to launch the paper's self-examination, but wasn't, was the way the media ran with the story without investigating the facts.

Cockburn said that when issues of national security are involved, the mainstream press follows the government blindly.

"War is always good for the ratings," he said, referencing William Randolph Hearst who influenced the Spanish-American War with yellow journalism.

Cockburn furthered his point by breaking down the issue involving Times staff writer Judith Miller, whose more than 15 stories on weapons of mass destruction generated much of the pro-war fervor during the same time as the Blair controversy.

Using information given to her by Iraqi exiles, Miller took advantage of these defectors' willingness to say anything that would get them back in their native country and in a position of control, including affirmation that weapons of mass destruction still existed, Cockburn said.

She also used the Department of Defense and their political agenda to make statements favoring the defectors' quotes.

At this time, Miller was also pushing a book deal, he said.

"It was a clear conflict of interests," he said.

He added that the government's eventual confession that no WMDs were found was strange.

"I thought at least they'd make something up. A tin box marked 'WMD' would have done. It's a sign of America's decline," he said.

Cockburn advised the audience that the best way to get the news is from multiple sources and to constantly question what the media supplies as news.

He said that no single source should be trusted, not even him.

"There's a lot out there to test," he said.

The newest way to access a much wider scope of media conglomerates is through the Internet.

People have so much access to so much information; before it would take a difficult process to get an article you had heard about in a British newspaper, now it is just a click of the mouse away, he said.

Not only is this information out there, people are taking advantage of it, Cockburn said, using a personal example of being stopped in his hometown by people who recently saw him on a television program from five years ago via the Web.

"I tend to think people see more than we suspect they do," he said.

As Cockburn ended his hour-long talk with a few questions from the audience, he stressed the need for the media to be held accountable for the content of their publications and broadcasts.

The biggest problem in the world today is poverty, he said, with the rich getting richer and the poor, poorer.

The public needs to pressure the media to reorder what is deemed most important and encourage a direction of media coverage that stimulates debate and thus a flourishing of political activity.

Without debate, the United States is not forced to examine itself, he said.

"The media problem is a national, political problem," Cockburn said.

Bill Cook, professor of English, invited Cockburn to speak at the University. "He brings a perspective on the media that reflects 40 years of experience, and his viewpoint is to the left. His writing reflects a perspective that is analytically in-depth and critically perceptive," he said.

Cockburn is an editor for CounterPunch.com and writes for The Nation, among other publications.