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CONTACTING US NEWSROOM: ADDRESS: (541)346-5511 Oregon Daily Emerald E-MAIL P.O.BOX 3159 ode@oregon. uoregon.edu Eugene, Oregon 97403 ONLINE EDITION: www uoregon.edu/-ode Perspectives EDITOR IN CHIEF Sarah Kickler EDITORIAL EDITOR Mike Schmierbach NIGHT EDITOR Holly Sanders Editor Jerry Ceppos and mainstream newspapers were too keen to bury a story on the CIA J"ournalists are supposed to take risks. American journalists in particular have a tradition of defending the underdog against the deceitful assaults of the pow erful. Given those truths, 1 can’t believe the Society of Professional Journal ists gave Jerry Ceppos an ethics award after what he did. Worse, I can’t believe Tim Gleason really drinks Ceppos’ behavior was an ex ample to be followed. Ceppos, the editor of the San Jose Mercury News, was on campus last Jeff Shaw Thursday to talk about “journalistic ethics.” These days, the term seems to mean that editors should cave in when the powerful papers exert pres sure. Under Ceppos’ watch, Gary Webb of the Mercury News wrote the well-known “Dark Alliance” story, which tried to show that drug dealers in California, with the complicity of the CIA, funneled profits from crack sales to the Nicaraguan Contras, whom the United States and the CIA backed. Remarkably, the story raised a furor in the national news media. I say “remarkably” because the sto ry is far from new. CIA involvement with drug dealing had been extraor dinarily well documented since the early ’70s at least, and The Associat ed Press first reported that Contra op eratives were involved in “cocaine trafficking ... to help finance their war against Nicaragua” in 1985. The only new parts of Webb’s story were the allegations that 1) this drug deal ing had moved to the United States and 2) certain CIA officials knew it. When Webb’s piece ran, the papers of record commenced to froth at the mouth. A stream of scornful coverage flowed from The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post. It’s rare that major dailies take the time to refute an in vestigative effort by a regional daily — why would three high-circulation national papers deem it necessary to assault Webb and the Mercury News? The reason is that those three pa pers not only missed the story, but in some cases they actively tried to sup press it. When the Kerry Commission was investigating allegations of Con tra drug trafficking, an investigative reporter rose to ask the lead counsel whether evidence linked the Contras and drug smuggling. According to Tim Kornbluh of the Columbia Jour nalism Review, "a New York Times correspondent screamed derisively at him from across the aisle: ‘Why don’t you ask a serious question?”’ I wish this were an isolated event rather than the new trend in journal ism: a pathological reliance on the “official version,” the absurd willing ness to accept the first line offered by an establishment source, and a lock step refusal to hear dissenting voices. The New York Times was so anx ious to refute Gary Webb, they forgot about consistency. A reporter named Jesse Katz hurried to attack the credi bility of one of Webb’s sources, an al leged Contra crack dealer named Ricky Ross. Katz declared that “the crack epidemic ... had nothing to do with Ross,” forgetting that in an earli er article, Katz himself described Ross as the "criminal mastermind be hind crack’s decade-long reign.” It’s controversial to say the papers of record care more about saving face than being honest. Controversial, but undeniable. So what does Ceppos do after the heat comes from the big dailies? He writes a column apologizing for the series. To be fair, Ceppos did main tain his support for the core truth of the story—but he had to know, as Webb told him then, that “everyone who wants this story to die will read this as a retraction,” And they did. The Post and The New York Times both ran editorials praising Ceppos for “repudiating” the series. Ceppos, clearly, is not the real vil lain here. That honor goes to the three papers who ignored a huge sto ry, attacked a reporter for getting out of line, and showed utter uisregaru lor the truth down to the last words they pub lished on the subject, say ing that Cep pos had "re pudiated” the story when he hadn’t. Equal part nership in the fiasco, though, goes to every one complic it in con tinuing this shameless pattern. That includes: Ceppos, who should have known that his step back would be seen as capitulation: SPJ, who should re mind itself that its own code of ethics advises journalists to "be vigilant and courageous about holding those with power accountable"; and Gleason, dean of the School of Journalism, who told the Emerald he thought Ceppos’ “response to the ‘Dark Al liance’ series was exemplary.” It wasn’t exemplary of anything but a cop-out. Ceppos wanted the re spect of his peers in the big cities more than he wanted to tell the truth. And really, the latter is the only thing any journalist should set out to do. When I think of journalism in America today, I think of what John Swinton, a former chief editor of The New York Times (called “the Dean of his Profession” by his peers) had to say in 1953 when he was asked to give a toast at the New York Press Club: “There is no such thing in America as an independent press.... We are the tools and vassals of rich men be hind the scenes. We are the jumping jacks; they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men. We are intellectual prosti tutes." Ceppos had a chance to be some thing more. It’s too bad he didn’t take it. Jeff Shaw is a coluniTiistfor the Emerald. His columns appear on alternate Wednesdays. His views do not necessar ily represent those of the newspaper. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Impeach court Who made the Constitution Court king? First it voided the Progressive slate Senate victory be cause it failed to fill out the paperwork for a table. Then it completely overlooks elections violations that included poll workers telling voters to vote “no” on the OSPIRG question and the “Honesty” Campaign manager systematically violating cam paign rules, including harassing the chair of the non-partisan elections committee. Finally, to add insult to injury, the court censured Ben Unger for taking down illegally posted campaign fliers at the behest of the elections board. This blatant partisanship would disturb even the most committed judicial activist. The Senate should impeach this court, or at least it should make it clear that only the Senate can censure its members, not some unaccountable judge. Mike Running Political Science Bill Smee (ODE, May 11) marched onto the edi torial page of the Emerald and declared victory over biblical morality, assigning those of us who disagree with him to “a large, vocal minority.” Smee declares that cultural evolution has left the God of Abraham and Moses and his followers be hind. Smee should first look at the current state of the battlefield. Ninety percent of Americans still iden tify themselves as Christians or Jews (Newsweek, March 31,1997). Ninety percent of Americans say they pray (American Academy of Family Physi cians, 1997). Sixty-seven percent say they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ, and 68 percent believe that the Christian faith has all the answers relevant to their lives today (Christian American, 1996). Seventy-one percent of Ameri cans say they never doubt the existence of God, up from 60 percent in 1987. Sixty-one percent believe miracles come from the power of God, up from 47 percent in 1987. Fifty-three percent say prayer is important to daily life, up from 41 percent in 1987 (PEW Research Center, 1997). A million teens prayed at school flagpoles on Sept. 21,1994, and three years later it was three million. Recently, over a million men prayed at the Promise Keepers gathering in Washington, D.C., and even 30,000 prayed and worshiped in Autzen Stadium. It ap pears by these trends that cultural evolution is pro gressing over the top of and past Bill Smee toward the God of Abraham and Moses. Perhaps Smee could win over the next genera tion, except that nine out of 10 teens don’t drink or smoke, six out of 10 teens don’t approve of pre marital sex and seven out of 10 teens say religion is important in their lives (NFO Research, Parade Magazine, Aug. 18,1996). In Smee’s evolution transformation of morality, how does one distinguish a degenerative trend from progress? Measured by traditional Judeo Christian moral values, the God of Abraham (though certainly under attack) appears to be still dominating the moral battlefield. Sixty-four percent of Americans oppose homo sexual marriage and adoptions by homosexuals (Louis Harris and Associates; Gallup, 1992; Yankelovich Clancy Shulman, 1992). Seventy-one percent of Americans believe couples should save sex for marriage, and 90 percent believe in tradi tional wedding vows. The ultra-liberal People for the American Way reported that 74 percent of Americans were more likely to vote for a candidate who put top priority on returning traditional moral values. Seventy-three percent of Americans agreed that “it is more important for government and elected officials to support traditional family values rather than tolerance for alternative lifestyles and values” (Wirthlin Group/Family Re search Council, 1994). The support base for abortions is less than a ma jority after the heartbeat and brain waves have started and it is 25 percent or less after the first three months (UPI, 1996; USA Today/CNN/Gallup, 1996/1997; New York Times/CBS, 1998). The Planned Parenthood posi tion of abortions any time during pregnancy (and birth) has less than a 10 percent support base (Wirthlin, 1998; New York Times/CBS, 1998). Smee’s minnow with little feet is about to be de voured by the giant Christian fish. Barry Williams Lane County Oregon Citizens Alliance Whipping boy Ben Unger may be a convenient whipping boy for the right, but this time he has been wronged. The Constitution Court censured Unger for taking down campaign fliers that were placed in illegal locations. He was even granted permission by the non-partisan elections board. Spencer Hamlin Political Science Thumbs TO INDIA: The nation that achieved libera tion through non-violent means recently exploded five nu clear bombs, in cluding one that appears to have been a hydrogen bomb. The tests were intended to prove India had a nuclear capacity, something world leaders have been aware of for sometime. They also served as a threat to neigh boring Pakistan, with which India has been feuding since Its incep tion. This action, a blatant affront to the cause of world peace, has received intense attention from President Clin ton. We can only hope he decides to follow U.S. law and imposes sanctions against India as he has promised. TO LAX STANDARDS FOR DRINKING AND DRIVING: Congress decid ed notto require states to set .08 as the standard blood-alcohol maximum for drivers. That level still allows the average person to have three or four drinks and get behind the wheel; anything more is too much. TO THE REGISTER* GUARD: Maybe it wasa slow news day, but the Guard's decision to run a feature photo on Gw front page featuring a cou ple making out in a yellow kayak was inexplicable. Meanwhile, a story about In donesia’s presi dent's pledge to step down was buried on an in side page.
