News

Poliak Lecture: Ron Suskind

September 26, 2007

by Casey Hynes '08, a newspaper print student who hopes to pursue a career as an investigative reporter, and Sarah Rivette '08, also a print student in the newspaper concentration.

Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Ron Suskind delivered an engaging and at times disconcerting lecture that ultimately served as a rallying cry to young journalists about the media’s struggle to fulfill its duties under the Bush administration.

Suskind, a 1983 graduate of the Journalism School who has published numerous articles and books about the administration, described the swift deterioration of that establishment’s relationship with the media, beginning in January 2002 and continuing today. He was writing features in 2002 but turned his attention to hard news when he became unsettled by President Bush’s high approval rating and the sense that anyone with a less than enthusiastic view of the administration was treated with a “dark designation of unpatriotic dissent.”

Telling colorful and engaging stories about reporting under the Bush administration over the past few years, Suskind compared what journalism used to mean to what it is understood to be today.

In the not so distant past, anyone from the general public would never dream of lying to a reporter, because, as Suskind said “they were playing by the old rule book.” Today, however, as the current administration vies for power and control, there is a deliberate attempt to stifle the flow of information, to prevent journalists from asking informed questions and discovering the truth.

This battle between the old and new rule books by which the powerful are playing is the world that students at the Journalism School are entering, according to Suskind. He warned that journalists must be willing to advocate for truth, because truth will lead to justice in the end.

He implored journalism students to remain committed to truth and disclosure despite resistance from the administration and the public, saying “each of you has to be an avatar, a champion and a guardian of truth.”

Suskind suggested that the new journalists in the crowd will have to rise up to continue the work of those already established in the field. “Nick [Lemann] and I are getting on,” he chuckled before concluding his talk. “We’re getting ready to pass the torch. Please, take that torch, will you?”