Tufts alum and political journalist Matt Bai spoke in the Crane Room yesterday about the process of journalistic writing and the current state of his profession in a lecture titled "Adventures in Political Journalism."
Bai described a career spanning stints at The Boston Globe, Newsweek, Rolling Stone (briefly), and The New York Times Magazine, and the political figures he's met throughout. "I've interviewed Bill Clinton in the Oval Office; I've talked to George W. Bush about baseball; I've smoked cigars with Jesse Ventura," Bai said.
However, name-dropping isn't the best part of his job, Bai said. "I really like the people who don't have the handlers and the buses. Everyone has a moment, and I love hearing about their moment," he said.
Playing to the many aspiring journalists in his audience, Bai commented on the state of media affairs and gave tips on getting into the business. "I think there's a danger in entering journalism [today]," he said. "With blogs and TV, you can carve out your path [immediately]. Everyone can be a talking head."
Bai recently stirred up controversy through his recent cover story for The New York Times Magazine on Senator John Kerry titled "Kerry's Undeclared War."
"The Kerry campaign thought it was a mistake to allow me the piece because of how the Bush campaign responded to it," Bai said. The Bush administration strongly contested several of Kerry's statements in the article, especially one in which he expressed desire to return to an era when terrorists were just "a nuisance."
Bai said the Republican reaction would make it harder for anyone to get a similar Kerry interview.
As a political journalist, Bai said he takes a different approach towards story-writing than the average journalist. "Embarrass the powerful? I disagree with that," Bai said. "We've made very little effort to explain who people are."
"The most difficult thing for a politician is their self-image," he said. "What matters is how you portray the image that they see when they look in the mirror." Bai said that when you disagree with that self-image is when you are criticized.
