Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh has always been an investigator and, as he says, “a troublemaker.”
Speaking to an audience of about 200 people who sat in the aisles, stood in the back and spilled into the main lobby of the McCormick Tribune Center on Sunday, the former New York Times reporter was invited to Medill as part of the Crain Lecture Series. His lecture, “The Road from 9/11 to the War in Iraq,” covered topics ranging from trusting government officials to the Iraq war to journalistic objectivity.
“Holding public officials to the highest standards of behavior is difficult because they always fail,” Hersh said.
He was unsparing in his criticism of presidents past and present. His spoke harshly about President Bush, whom he called a “radical utopian” and the “most dangerous president.” Regarding the Iraq war, Hersh said the United States was focused on regime change, not weapons of mass destruction.
“In case you don’t know, guys, we are in trouble,” he said of the war.
Hersh was also critical of the media coverage preceding the war.
“We were lousy,” he said. “We were mad about 9/11. – We lost all objectivity.”
When Medill Dean Loren Ghiglione asked him about objectivity in reporting, Hersh said it was important to keep a passion for journalism.
“This notion of objectivity is fallacious,” Hersh said. “We all have a point of view about everything.”
But he was quick to say being passionate should not preclude writing with dignity. Instead he said journalists should use their points of view as springboards to investigate matters that interest them.
“There’s nothing wrong with having a point of view,” he said. “If it shapes your reporting and makes you passionate about it, I think it’s great.”
Hersh writes for The New Yorker but began his journalism career in Chicago, where he was born. He started working for City News Bureau after graduating from the University of Chicago in 1958 and dropping out of law school.
Hersh won fame for his account of the My Lai massacre when hundreds of South Vietnamese civilians were killed by Army troops. His book on the massacre, “My Lai 4: A Report on the Massacre and Its Aftermath,” won him a Pulitzer Prize in 1970 for international reporting – although he hadn’t traveled outside America at that time.
His most recent book, “Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib,” was required summer reading for all Medill freshmen.
Bridget Wheelan, an Evanston resident, said she attended the lecture because she wanted to hear the viewpoint of an informed journalist.
“I’m a liberal so I agree with a lot of his points,” said Wheelan, 23. “I think the more people who can get up and say that, the better.”
But Aaron Gannon, a Medill sophomore, questioned Hersh’s comments about passion overriding objectivity.
“Even though portraying the story with a tilt would show the truth more effectively, in the long run, it would be more effective to write objectively to maintain public trust,” Gannon said.
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