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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.