A story in Monday’s DAILY misstated why The Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel has not appeared again on ABC’s “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos. She has been invited back to the show but hasn’t been able to attend because of scheduling conflicts.
Journalism is being hurt by Bush administration pressure, media consolidation and corporations, The Nation magazine editor Katrina vanden Heuvel said Friday in a talk with Northwestern faculty and students.
Vanden Heuvel, a regular on MSNBC, CNN and PBS, sat at the center of an oval table in Kresge 4-315 surrounded by a group of about 25 adults and students.
Dressed in a black jacket, sweater and pants with dark brown hair hanging down by her shoulders, she leaned forward and rested her hands on the table as she answered questions. Vanden Heuvel spoke in a deliberate and restrained voice.
The media, not the country, has drifted rightward in recent years, vanden Heuvel said.
“It screens out, filters progressive views,” she said.
The media inaccurately depicts a nation polarized by party, she said.
She noted former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and Bob Barr, a former Republican U.S. Representative, both spoke at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day event last week, criticizing President Bush for authorizing wiretaps in the United States without warrants.
Charles Whitaker, assistant professor at the Medill School of Journalism, heard vanden Heuvel speak at the event and has seen her on television talk shows. He said she is a thoughtful critic.
“She’s an elegant spokesperson for alternative media,” Whitaker said. “Part of her appeal is that she isn’t strident or shrill in pointing out the flaws of the administration.”
Vanden Heuvel said media consolidation has stifled alternative opinions because most television shows use the same pundits over and over.
Her own experience on talk shows has demonstrated a bias against liberals in the mainstream media, she said.
After a few appearances on “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos, she said she was not invited back because of her opinions.
“There’s a suffocating consensus of views,” she said.
Vanden Heuvel said corporate control of media makes journalists less aggressive because of business concerns. But she said the greatest force against journalism is President Bush, who provides little information to the media.
“There’s a war against the press by this administration,” she said.
She said the administration’s attitude toward the media was especially hostile immediately after Sept. 11.
“To ask tough questions risked being called a traitor,” she said.
Vanden Heuvel credits opposition against Bush for The Nation’s circulation increase. She became editor in 1995, when it had 28,000 subscribers. It is now the most widely-read U. S. weekly political magazine, with about 187,000 subscribers.
“What’s bad for the nation is good for The Nation,” she said, drawing laughter.
Weinberg senior Archana Sriram, who had never read Vanden Heuvel’s magazine, said she likes how the editor approaches politics.
“I’m motivated by the way she questions,” Sriram said. “She’s trying to promote this more intellectual debate.”
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