British reporters are nasty; American reporters are soft - at least, that was the general consensus reached at the end of this Friday, Feb. 26 panel.
While debate over the press etiquette provoked chuckles from both panelists and audience members, the major media figures assembled assumed a serious tone as they addressed the media's responsibility in today's volatile world.
"The media aids and abets the dissemination of fear, and in doing so is simply doing its job of reporting," said Benjamin Pogrund, former deputy editor of the Rand Daily Mail.
Jacob Silberberg (A'02), the only American photographer currently stationed in Iraq, presented a slideshow of his photographs, speculating about what the people in the photographs were thinking and feeling.
"People are afraid of many things," he said, noting that deciphering human fear is nearly impossible, because "it's too complex, it's too mixed, it's too nuanced."
According to Charles Sennott, former Boston Globe bureau chief for London and the Middle East, the media needs to respond to questions of fear and press objectivity.
"There's this notion of [the media as] a neutral conduit that's going to throw out questions, but there need to be answers," Sennot said.
Panelists agreed that the media should offer on-the-scene coverage when reporting on foreign affairs.
"If we're not there, you're not there," said Mort Rosenblum, former chief correspondent for the Associated Press.
"We're constantly going into the places everyone is running from," Sennott said. He admitted, however, that safety concerns for himself and his family forced him to leave his post in Israel to report from the less-volatile London.
Sennott said that the current quality of reporting in Iraq has suffered as a result of the paralyzing security concerns there, which in his view were merited.
Panelists also discussed what level of fear the press has a right to raise in the public. "Fear is a healthy emotion," Pogrund said.
According to Pogrund, the press must ask itself whether its coverage is responsible and "doing the public a service." He said that newspapers are faced with the need to turn a profit, which can lead to unfortunate compromises in depth and complexity in their coverage.
"People watch, read and listen because horrible things happen," he said, and reporting on horrible things is the "cheapest, easiest way to build up circulation." Sennott added that as more and more newspapers go corporate, they must produce larger profit margins than before in order to attract and retain shareholders.
According to Sennott, newspapers used to make a four to five percent profit, but more and more are pushing into double digit profit margins, some even above 20 percent.
Marc Sommers, professor of humanitarian studies at the Fletcher School, also sat on the panel.
The panel was moderated by junior Matthew Benson and sophomore Vijaylaxsmi Kesavan.
