By Scott Girard
Kansas State Collegian
September 21, 2007
http://media.www.kstatecollegian.com/media/storage/paper1022/news/2007/09/21/TodaysNews/Media.Center.Director.Calls.For.Return.Of.Investigative.Journalism-2984020.shtml
Tough, investigative journalism needs to return to the forefront of the mainstream media, said the director of a renowned investigative journalism center yesterday at the eighth-annual Huck Boyd Lecture on Community Media.
Bill Buzenberg, executive director for the Center of Public Integrity, said the media are too concerned with superficial news about celebrities like Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan.
 |
| Bill Buzenberg, executive director for the Center of Public Integrity, was the speaker of the eighth-annual Huck Boyd Lecture in Community Media at the K-State Student Union Forum Hall on Thursday morning. Photo by Lyndsey Born |
"How strange is it, that at the time when technology has given us instantaneous global communication, transmission of pictures, sounds and words, we have such paltry news and information," Buzenberg said in front of a mostly full Forum Hall in the K-State Student Union.
Buzenberg compared the way reporters flock to meaningless celebrity events to a soccer game where 6-year-old kids follow the ball around the field.
He said journalists need to return to the muckraking and watchdog journalism of the past. He said reporters should look at the investigative reports of Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle," Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's Watergate uncovering, and other journalists' work on revealing scandals like child abuse by Catholic priest and the National Security Agency's domestic spying program.
He said some news agencies and centers like the Center of Public Integrity are trying to investigate all areas of government, but most media are not doing their part.
"I think watchdog journalism, and even muckraking, are good words," Buzenberg said. "The only problem I see is there just isn't enough of it."
He said since the center was started in 1989, it has released close to 400 major investigative reports and 17 books. These include investigations into Halliburton Energy Services and the travel habits of members in Congress.
Buzenberg said Congress members were caught making golf vacations to Scotland and other nonbusiness trips by a group of college journalists hired by the center to monitor travel records.
He said the center also spent three years researching and compiling information through lawsuits and other means just to know what Halliburton was doing in Iraq. He said about 40 percent of the government contracts to Halliburton are devoid of competition.
He said the increase of government private contracts is a major problem in the United States.
"If you only remember one thing from today," he said. "In the last five years, government has doubled contributions to private contractors."
He said the government gives close to $19 billion to the Department of Homeland Security and $25 billion to Lockheed Martin - the world's largest defense contractor - in private contracts.
"(Lockheed Martin) is almost a government in itself," he said.
Buzenberg said the United States is creating a shadow government where corporations are starting to control many aspects of the government. He also said much of the media are not doing anything about it.
He called the lack of investigative news reporting a media meltdown. He gave an example of when Time magazine fired two Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalists because of budget issues and a week later spent $4 million on photos of Angelina Jolie's baby.
Buzenberg also said much of the journalism industry is drifting toward the Internet and away from print media, but media companies have not figured out a way to sustain solid investigative journalism.
"As of now, no online business model has been made that can sustain this type of time-consuming operation," he said.
He said the country needs to find a way to sustain this form of journalism to properly inform citizens of the news.
"We need a watchdog, muckraking and courageous press that stirs up trouble in the best meaning of the word," he said. "A news media that is willing to dig up facts and make them public."
After the lecture, Buzenberg answered various questions from the crowd, including what advice he had for journalism students.
He responded that students need to be aware of the growing influence of the Web, but that this should not change journalism professionalism or the job market.
"The online world really takes good writing, reporting, photos and overall journalism like everything else," he said.
Gloria Freeland, director of the Huck Boyd Center for Community Media and assistant professor in journalism and mass communications, said students could learn valuable lessons from the lecture.
"Investigative journalism is important to democracy, honestly," Freeland said. "I just think we need to get back to good, strong investigative journalism, and that starts with the students."
Aaron Kadavy, freshman in agricultural communications, said he liked Buzenberg's different perspective on the media, which gave him a new perspective on the future of journalism.
"I think it really had a nice message for students," Kadavy said. "It is important for students to understand media ... That sort of information is something we need to have in the open so people can make their own decisions."
Freeland said the lecture had a strong message for all forms of media outlets and consumers.
"No matter where you live, you need to be involved in the community," she said. "And there's always going to be issues we need to be informed about as citizens."
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.