the independent campus newspaper of swarthmore college since 1881

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

« RETURN TO OPINIONS

« PREV ARTICLE | NEXT ARTICLE »

Our news niche

In print | January 27, 2005

People in campus media keep wondering whether we as mere students can ever accomplish anything beyond reporting on short-term, minor issues in our own communities. We lack the colossal supply of money, time and connections that seem necessary to gain firsthand access to major news events and press conferences. Is there a reason for the movers and shakers of the world to respect students wielding pens? One answer to that question is the Nightly Iraq War Summary.

STAFF EDITORIAL

Large-scale commercial newsgathering is increasingly the provenance of larger and larger media conglomerates, for whom every news piece is a major investment of resources. To justify the expense of sending reporters to a distant and dangerous environment like Iraq, mainstream news organizations have no choice but to go for the major headline stories, the exciting photo ops, the interviews with famous public figures — and stories told from so close to the seats of power can’t help but be distorted for political gain.

An atmosphere of cutthroat competition and political pressure leaves no room for the smaller human stories, the day-to-day record of events that is ultimately the only way to build a detailed picture of a faraway place.

This is where the voices from the margins come into play. It’s the blogs, diaries, personal memoirs and letters home from ordinary people that tell the story of a war, and it’s precisely those small bits and pieces that today’s high-profile reporters are unable to see from their lofty posts in pressrooms.

The Vietnam War holds a unique place in our history because it was the first war in quite some time that ordinary Americans learned about in close detail, as television cameras gained the power to transmit images and interviews directly from war zones, and scenes of warfare that had once been dry text in government press releases became living sights and sounds.

Now, as we’ve become desensitized to images and TV news has found its power to dig up hidden stories in Iraq increasingly curtailed, those of us interested in getting the truly interesting and illuminating stories out of Iraq must look to other sources. Time will tell how effective a tool phone-call interviews with ordinary Iraqs will be, but David Gelber ’63 proved something similar could work for Vietnam forty years ago, and if anyone has the insight, passion and will to replicate that success today, we believe Swarthmore students do.

Discussion

Comments are closed.

« RETURN TO OPINIONS

« PREV ARTICLE | NEXT ARTICLE »