Page 2/The Battalion/Tuesday, November 11, 1986
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Opinion
Soviets challenge integrity of U.S. journalism*
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American journalists fre
quently are criticized by the
government, the military and
the general public for being
too liberal. We make up
“news,” we sensationalize
and we “report only the bad
news,” the charges go. In
some cases, American jour
nalists and authors have been
labeled as sympathetic to the Loron
communist cause. Steffy
Despite constant efforts to
combat the liberal-journalist myth (recent studies
show there are far more conservative journalists,
and many liberals in the business are unem
ployed), public opinion still leans toward the no
tion that journalists are leftist symps who like to
dig up trouble.
But now journalists and authors are being at
tacked on a different front — from the very party
where their loyalties allegedly lie. A recent issue of
the Communist Party daily Pravda attacked Amer
ican journalism and literature for being riddled
with anti-Communist sentiment.
Some of Pravda's targets were easy — William F.
Buckley Jr., for example. But the paper also sin
gled out James Michener for his “fat opus ‘Po
land’ ” and Saul Bellow for “The Dean’s Decem
ber.”
But, Pravda decided, Gore Vidal is OK because
his portrayal of Lincoln in his novel of the same
name “approaches the Marxist interpretation of
this outstanding historical figure.”
The Pravda piece points out the philosophical
dichotomy bet ween what Americans perceive to be
communist sympathies and what the communists
themselves perceive. Both sides sum up the situa
tions in terms of their own perspectives.
Americans assume journalists are leftist lackeys
because they “dig up dirt” and therefore, the logic
goes, change the system not for the better, but for
the commies. Such sentiment, of course, presup
poses the freedom to do such digging in the first
place.
The Soviets, however, see the focus on social
problems to be the result of capitalism. The sys
tem, they say, forces reporters to write such things.
But the Soviets are used to being “forced” to write
things and have little understanding of journalistic
freedom. In their country, they are forced to gloss
over and ignore similar problems in their system.
But the concept of journalistic freedom also is
culturally relative. The Soviet journalists believe
they have more freedom than their American
counterparts. They can write anything about any
body, with no regard for libel or invasion of pri
vacy, except for their boss — the government.
To American reporters, however, this is no free
dom at all. They would rather be a watchdog an
swerable to the people than a lapdog answerable to
an oppressive master. Maybe Soviets have fewer
restraints on what they write, but the price is more
than most American journalists would be willing to
pay. The Soviet form of freedom is highly selec
tive, a mockery of information and nothing more
than government-sponsored public relations.
The Pravda article mistakenly attributed the
motivation for American journalism solely to
profit. “Ever since Americans learned how to
‘make’ and ‘sell’ news, the printed word in the U.S.
has been closely tied to the market. This has given
rise to a conformist, commercial artistic conscious
ness. Never before has the ‘almighty dollar’ in the
coinage of Washington Irving, dictated so impe
riously what and how to write.”
In pur system, profit may be a concern, but the
driving force behind newspapers is the public’s
right to know, the maintenance of freedom. If this
is the “making” of news, what does Pravda call it
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Fm KUS51A, UITH LOVE *
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when a government spoon-feeds selective infor
mation to a hype sheet masquerading as a newspa
per?
The article goes on to exemplify obscenity as “a
feature of the general crisis in capitalist coun
tries, attesting to the desolation of the individual’s
inner world in bourgeois society.” The article, of
course, ignores the Soviets’ problems with pornog
raphy and prostitution run amok.
But ignoring the facts while criticizing those
abroad is Pravda’s style. It picks out anti-commu
nism in American newspapers and literature while
conveniently overlooking that its own writers art m
prohibited from expressing similar sentiment, ac
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The Pravda article’s ludicrousness, however . etl
best exemplified in the paper’s own pages. Thi!
same publication that attacked the integrity i,: —
American journalism less than a month earlier,c X
true supermarket-journalism style, “exposed" tf "*
AIDS epidemic as a Pentagon plot. The Natto/iaH
Enquirer is green with envy.
Loren Steffy is a senior journalism major andtk u (
Opinion Page editor for The Battalion. j t ,
Good ol' boys cling to existence
despite ever-encroaching BMWs
The Associated
Press recently
quoted Doug Mar-
lette of Charlotte,
N.C., creator of
the Southern-fla
vored comic strip
“Kudzu,” as saying
good of boys are
out ( fashion in
the South and cur-
rei are trading
in r pick u p
tnu i-s for BMWs.
Lewis
Grizzard
eai
•ette points to the development of
tin Bell, which is fast replacing the
go< >f boys native habitat, as the pri
mal reason Billy Bobus Rednexus, his
te• aay soon be a thing of the past.
]\;.,i,. tie mav be correct in relation to
Southei cities. In Atlanta, for instance,
o rarely sees a pickup truck anymore
u even has been reported Atlanta
e been spotted drinking wine
iii.a d < r 7 eer
con my.s. v somewhat of an
expert on the Southern male (see my
latest work entitled, “Jan Kemp: The
First Teacher Who Was Sacked” or
“The Revenge of the Pot-Bellied Alum
ni,” in the December issue of Smokeless
Tobacco Illustrated) and I daresay Mar-
lette needs to do more research outside
the cities of the South before he pro
nounces the good of boy as a thing of
the past.
As proof of that, let us hear from my
favorite G.O.B., my boyhood friend and
idol, Weyman C. Wannamaker Jr., a
great American who lives in my home
town of Moreland, Ga., where the late
Curtis “Fruit Jar” Haney, the town
drunk, grew' the first recorded beer
belly south of Baltimore, Md.
I located Weyman relaxing over at
the pool hall.
“Weyman,” I asked him, “is it true
good of boys are turning in their pickup
trucks for BMWs?”
“Not that I know of,” replied Wey
man, “but Gator Turnipseed traded his
Battalion
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Menil i of
is Press Association
nvest Journalism (ion fere nee
lie e».ittalion Editorial Board
Cadtie Anderson, Editor
Kirsten Dietz, Managing Editor
Loren Steffy. Opinion Page Editor
f ank Smith. City Editor
Sue Krenek, News Editor
Ken Sury, Sports Editor
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shotgun for two tickets to ‘Wrestlema-
nia’ last week. What’s a BMW?”
“Never mind,” I said to Weyman. “By
the way, do you still carry your shotgun
in the gun rack of your pickup?”
“Right next to my window decal,” said
Weyman.
“What does your window decal say?”
“Lefs Shove Cuba Up the Mississip
pi!”
I asked Weyman if he and his good of
boy friends still enjoyed country music.
“Not as much since Willie started
wearing an earring,” he explained, “but
like Gator says, Willie sings all them
duets with them foreigners and rock
and roll singers and that’s what can hap
pen w hen you fall in with a bad crowd.
I wondered if Weyman and his
friends still were drinking as much beer
as always.
“Gator’s wife tried to make him quit,”
Weyman said. “She wanted him to have
a little more class, so one day, he sent
her to the store to get a six-pack and she
came home with some of them Barletts
and James wine coolers they advertise
on the television.”
“And what happened?”
“Gator took his wife’s Wrestlemania
ticket away from her and gave it to me.”
“Wasn’t she upset she didn’t get to
go?”
“Betty Sue Ann?” asked Weyman.
“Shoot, no. She had to change the oil in
Gator’s truck anyway.”
Billy Bobus Rednexus — the legend
continues.
Mail Call
an
Plan can't be denied
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EDITOR: lev
Chris Carson said that “Immorality is like beauty — in the eye of the itu
beholder. . .” (Mail Call Oct. 29). He also said that Robert 1). Farrell should
“open his mind to accepting homosexuality not as a freak of nature, but as an un
individual’s chosen lifestyle. He is right about the latter. 1 le also said the Lord Ip 11
said to “love thy neighbor.” ftw H e
Paraphrased, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 says, “Don’t you know that those 7
doing such things have no share in the kingdom of God? Don’t fool
yourselves. Those who live immoral lives — who are idol worshipers,
adulterers or homosexuals — will have no share in his kingdom. Neither will
thieves nor greedy people, drunkards, slanderers, or robbers.” -• - |1~
I have not comdemned Carson or anyone else, but w'hat the Lord’s plan
discloses cannot be denied. Whether one believes it or not, it is there. If you
love the Lord', then immorality is in his eyes — if you don’t, then it is in your
eyes. True, the choice is yours on w hether to choose his way or yours, but
don’t forget that he is the final judge. My prayers are with Carson, not my
resentment. I love my neighbor.
Sir Arthur W. John
Chaplain, Corps of Cadets
Mideast oversimplified
EDITOR:
Three points pertaining to Leon Luxemburg’s letter Nov. 4:
1. Anti Semitic Coverge: As we see it, Olivier Uyttebrouck merely was
doing his job — reporting on campus activities of international concerns. As
an unbiased journalist, he would be expected to do similar reporting if an
Israeli official were on campus presenting his/her perspective on the Middle
East issue.
2. Menachem Begin: The fact that Begin was awarded the Nobel Peace
Prize does not cover up historical facts. Begin, Yitzhak Shamir (the new
Israeli Prime Minister) and others of the Jewish underground in the days
before the creation of the Israeli State in 1948 did terrorize the Palestinian
population much in the same way as 1) the Israeli population is being
terrorized today by some Palestinian groups, and 2) the Palestinian refugees
in neighboring Arab countries are being terrorized by being under constant
bombing threat by Israeli jets. So let us not pretend that the violence in the
Middle East is being perpetuated by only one side.
3. Soviet Jews: If Luxemburg wants to compare institutionalized racism in
South Africa to the mistreatment of Soviet Jews and label them both as
apartheid, then we believe he does not really comprehend what apartheid is.
It is saddening to see people like Luxemburg oversimplifying reality in
the Middle East by naively classifying one side as the good guys and the other
as the bad guys.
Thomas Mebrahtu
Beatriz Bravo
Jose F. Rodriguez
Letter lacked correct facts
EDITOR:
Brian Petruskie, in his Nov. 6 letter claims that the majority of the
Palestine Liberation Organization’s terrorist activity was conducted by
splinter groups. The fact is that more than 85 percent of all murders and
mutilations were claimed and done by Yassir Arafat’s faction. Most of the
other Palestinian terrorist activity was supported verbally and lauded by
Arafat.
The supporters of the FLO always talk about the 40-year-old King David
Hotel explosion because there is nothing else that they can say. This
explosion has nothing to do with terrorism. The King David Hotel was a
military object containing arms storage and military archives and guarded by
a large number of British troops.
Petruskie also says that persecution of Jews in Russia is mostly religious
and is not based on race. The implication here is that it can be condoned.
Unfortunately, less than 10 percent of the Jews in Russia practice
Judaism. Their persecution is based solely on their ethnic origin. I speak
from my own experience. Petruskie claims that there is a good percentage ol
Jews in the Supreme Soviet. There was one token Jew in the Presidium 20
years ago and he is long since dead.
Petruskie’s final statement about concentration camps on the West Bank
is false also. Any Arab resident of Israel is free to leave the country, except
for convicted terrorists. It is difficult to say whether Petruskie is as blissfully
ignorant of the facts as his letter shows (with all the glib arrogance that goes
with ignorance) or his sympathies to Soviet racism and Palestinian terrorism
override any sense of fairness to the truth.
Leon Luxemburg
Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorial staf f reserves the righi
to edit letters for style and length, but will make every effort to maintain the author’s intent
Each letter must be signed and must include the classification, address and telephone numberof
the writer.
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Copyright 1986, Cowles Syndicate