Behind the Headlines

More than 100 people attended a panel discussion Thursday on “The media’s responsibility in a time of war” that featured me, Al Cross, a journalist and director of  UK’s Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, and John Stempel, a professor in and former director of UK’s Patterson School of Diplomacy. 

The forum, held at Temple Adath Israel in Lexington, was sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union. Most of those who attended were against the war in Iraq and were critical of the news media for not being more aggressive in its watchdog reporting. As I explained, I have also heard a lot from those on the other side – though not nearly as much in the past year or two as I did in 2003 and 2004 – that our reporting from Iraq was too critical of the Bush administration, not “patriotic” and should include more "good" news from Iraq.

While the Herald-Leader’s editorial page has been against the war from the start, those of us on the news side have simply tried to present the most accurate picture we could of the situation based on the reporting available.  And I noted that the reporting from  journalists with our parent company, Knight Ridder  (now McClatchy), which has maintained a large and aggressive foreign staff directed by the Washington bureau, has been widely praised as among the best and most accurate of any news organization.

The panel discussion lasted nearly two hours – and could have gone on much longer if the moderator hadn’t called time. It was a great session. And, thanks to Dr. Stempel’s foreign service expertise, the discussion ranged beyond media coverage to larger topics of U.S. foreign policy and the Middle East.   

I thoroughly enjoyed the exchange, and it left me thinking that citizens don’t spend enough time in public forums like that discussing and debating the vital issues of our time, such as the war in Iraq.  So, are there other civic groups out there willing to fill the void?

Tom Eblen
Managing Editor