Former ambassador, reporters talk politics at Oct. 13 symposium

By Kirstie Hettinga
The Collegian

Fresno State President John Welty said Friday’s 4th annual Roger Tatarian Journalism Symposium was an opportunity to come together to probe into the issues the world is facing today.

Welty said among the things he learned from former mass communication and journalism professor Roger Tatarian was the importance of a free press and a democratic society.

Two of the speakers of the morning, Jonathan Landay and Warren Strobel, are journalists who recognize what Welty called “the heavy responsibility of the press.”

Landay and Strobel, both reporters for the McClatchy Corporation, received the National Headliners award for their coverage of the Bush administration’s use of uncorroborated information as justification for the Iraq war.

According to Strobel, the information they were getting out of Washington “just didn’t click.” Strobel also said he and Landay believed they “owed it to the families of the soldiers” to investigate.

Landay and Strobel agree the Bush administration is the most closed-mouthed and most agenda-setting either has ever covered. Strobel said reader reaction to their stories was polarized. Landay said they were asking themselves why they were the only journalists to be covering the war in Iraq from that perspective, but they understood many were uncomfortable questioning national leadership after Sept. 11.

Both men said they received little criticism for their coverage of the war, because to criticize them would have drawn more attention to their work.

Keynote speaker former Iraq Ambassador Joseph Wilson was condemned for his efforts to censure the Bush administration for the U.S. military presence in Iraq. Wilson wrote, “What I didn’t find in Africa,” an article that indicated allegations of Saddam Hussein trying to purchase weapons grade uranium from Niger were false.

In response to Wilson’s article, the covert status of CIA agent Valerie Plame, Wilson’s wife, was leaked to the press.

At the symposium, Wilson said “a bad outcome in Iraq will be blamed on the U.S. for a long time.” He also said it is the responsibility of the people to hold their government to a certain standard.

Wilson appealed to the students in the nearly full Satellite Student Union. He said it didn’t matter how students voted as long as they were open to the views of others. “The future is yours,” Wilson said. “If you don’t grasp it, someone else will.”

Social work major Larry Pehrsson said he came to the symposium because he was interested in the topic, he said it was “kind of stupid not to come if you had the chance.”

Mary Anna Dunn, who works in the development office on campus, came with her husband, John. They said they had heard of Wilson before and were interested in hearing him speak. John Dunn said, “It’s timely, it’s current, it’s important.”

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