A COUPLE of weeks ago many of the major reputable news sources of this country found themselves in a rather embarrassing game of limbo with much of the American public standing idly by wondering, "How low can they really go?" The lure of a story about President Bush's underage twin daughters attempting to purchase alcohol at a local Austin, Texas restaurant using a fake ID was more than most editors and anchormen could resist. And while some of these newspapers and magazines retained a bit of their journalistic integrity by giving the story a cursory glance and placing it on a back page, many failed, and failed miserably.
The news outlets that dramatically covered this story and hosted talk sessions sacrificed their commitment to the public to publish information that is truthful and relevant. They cast aside probably the most important journalistic motto, "All the news that's fit to print," and stooped to the level of the cheesy supermarket celebrity tabloids that, interestingly enough, never seem to collect dust. They gave in.
The extended media coverage of such an unimportant and irrelevant story (and the continued commentary about the girls' court appearances) starkly reinforces a lesson learned about modern America first introduced in all its glory by the O.J. Simpson trial: Sensationalism sells. The American public eats it up.
But is it right to exploit the Bush family, specifically the Bush twins, to sell a couple more papers? Is it right to invade the privacy of a family and to air the dirty laundry of two college students who were not elected to public office and did not choose to be in the public eye?
College is a time to make mistakes. It's a time to experience new things and to learn more about the world, the arts, history and one's own self. If the Bush twins have to worry about swarming reporters trying to capitalize on every mistake they might make, they will experience four very dull years because they will be denied the fun most students come to expect as a part of college life. They will be robbed of the very education that college is intended to afford: the opportunity to make mistakes before the adult world comes calling - a world that does not sympathize too strongly with minor lapses in judgment or the eccentric behavior of young adults.
The news sources probably did not intend to set a precedent restricting the Bush twins during their greatest years of freedom. But they did. Moreover, they probably did not intend to use the story as a back door to attack the Republican party or the current White House administration. They want to make money. They want to sell more papers and gain more viewers because the marketing experts working for these companies know that this kind of story will sell.
Fair enough. The media should at least be honest and recognize their trashy coverage as the trash that it is. Instead, many media sources tried to sugar coat their coverage, claiming that the behavior of the twins demonstrates an American crisis of underage alcohol consumption.
That's bunk. There is no crisis, and the recent national campaign, designed to prevent minors from purchasing cigarettes by placing a stronger responsibility in store owners to check identification, succeeded also in generating a stronger barrier to the underage purchase of alcohol. Store owners are checking IDs more regularly now that the "We Card" program is so popular.
Good things, however, can come out of bad situations, and it's important that parents use this story to sit down with their children and to discuss the dangers of alcohol consumption. To claim that this was the original intention of the media, however, is not truthful. To continue to pry into the Bush family and to publicize this private family affair by continuing to investigate and report is not journalistic and should stop.
Journalists have a moral responsibility to publish the truth - that means unbiased and uncensored information. It also means that a story, no matter how marvelous or dramatic it is, is given coverage fitting to the story. To blow up something small and to make it a story bigger than it truly is is not reporting the truth. Tabloids exist to feed this sector of the inquiring mind. Reputable news sources, that influence how people think and control much of the information that the public learns, have a responsibility to publish the small, irrelevant stories where they belong: in the back, if at all.
It's not like it was a slow news day when the story was published. Space and air time that was spent embarrassing the Bush daughters should have been spent reporting important stories like the suicide bombing in Israel that killed 17 people, or recounting the life of Rep. Joe Moakley, a 15 time reelected and highly respected Congressman from Massachusetts who died after a battle with leukemia, or the details of Pres. Bush's tax plan which was finally approved by Congress. I guess these stories weren't "sensational" enough.
(Luke Ryan is a Cavalier Daily columnist. He can be reached at lryan@cavalierdaily.com.)
Read More
ONIBUDO AND SAWAYA: Police, not students, were agents of chaos
By Naima Sawaya and Nathan Onibudo | 3 days agoSaturday, the state, not students nor protesters, brought violence to this campus.
IYER: Sports stadiums should sport more benefit to Virginia residents
By Arjun Iyer | 5 days agoPast stadiums in other states show that Virginia has the potential to succeed at such a construction project, provided that proper measures are undertaken.
KURTZWEIL: True financial aid must be transparent
By Paul Kurtzweil | April 29, 2024The implications and revelations of the lawsuit should inspire greater transparency at the University in order to ensure that financial aid is properly and equitably distributed.
