Charles Wiley, a freelance writer and photographer, lectured Thursday to about 30 audience members at Pacific Hall. He asked the University to urge students to “take over” and reverse disturbing trends he believes exist in journalism and American culture.
Wiley’s reporting spans 100 countries and 11 wars. His stories have appeared in publications including The New York Times, Newsweek and Time. He also works in radio and television and has appeared on CNN’s “Crossfire.”
Wiley’s lecture was part of his work with Accuracy in Media, a nonprofit group working to encourage accuracy in news coverage. Wiley’s University visit, which included stops in three journalism classes, was arranged by the College Republicans.
Wiley said the media should be brought back to its responsibility of objectivity.
“It (media) decides what you think about,” Wiley said. “It decides what problems we are going to solve and in what order we are going to solve them.”
To illustrate this point, Wiley discussed the recent gay marriage issue. He said gay marriage was originally the concern of a small number of people, but once the media stressed the issue, the Democratic candidates and President Bush were compelled to speak about the debate. Wiley said this power is being abused by what he calls “advocacy journalists.”
According to Wiley, “advocacy journalists” likely make up half of all news reporters. He said they are nearly indistinguishable from the rest of reporters who fulfill their responsibility as objective
journalists. By misrepresenting issues or negating inconvenient facts, advocacy journalists are “trying to enlist you in their crusade,” Wiley said.
“It was an eye-opener,” music education graduate student Karen Palmer said of the lecture. “It shows how powerful the media is.”
Wiley also charged that reporter bias during the Vietnam War led to a warped impression of the war and its soldiers. Wiley said relations between reporters and American soldiers declined so drastically that the soldiers referred to reporters as people who watched a battle from a hill and then came down to “shoot the survivors.” The bias was so permeating that “they couldn’t report it straight,” he said.
According to Wiley, a common myth of the Vietnam War is that soldiers were not greeted with appreciation when they returned home. Wiley said this conception is “pure unadulterated bullshit” that resulted from reporters simply not covering the large parades and demonstrations that welcomed soldiers.
“The biggest demonstrations during the war in Vietnam were pro-GI demonstrations,” Wiley said.
He said journalists and American media consumers can “change it all,” and if they don’t, “the price is going to be perhaps the loss of our freedom.”
Sophomore political science major Anthony Warren, a member of the College Republicans, said he hoped for a larger audience but was pleased with the lecture.
“You really can’t argue with the guy,” Warren said.