Week Three: Watergate and Other Stuff

Carl Bernstein created quite a stir in the community this week. I proudly placed my autographed copy of All the President’s Men on my highest shelf and hope to read it soon. Regrettably I had a 4 o’clock class and couldn’t stay for the MeFe pre-session, but the lecture was fantastic. Anyhow, I really enjoyed Professor Steele’s talk on media ethics, especially considering that the American code of journalism ethics originated right here at DePauw with Sigma Delta Chi, or the Society of Professional Journalists. (I think I picked it up from Losing the News a while back, and it stuck.) Integrity and hard work/verification, among other factors, comprise journalistic ethics, but these two are the ones that are most important to me, especially since they are so rarely seen on the Internet. (The latter especially is impractical due to time constraints.) One of Professor Steele’s points that resounded with me in particular was equating ethics with excellence. Not only is it alliteration, but it rings true. It’s profound and well-spoken—both I appreciate.

My article of interest this week was “Russia seeks the arrest of a politician from Georgia,” which I chose for the fact that it is the first case of Russia’s pursuit of a political figure who is not Russian. I found it interesting that Georgia could not send Targamadze to Russia (the lions) but would open up a criminal investigation into his doings. I would have liked to see some input from Georgians, as well, not just from the Russian president, Putin. I definitely wouldn’t have known about it otherwise, since it’s such an obscure little piece. This is why International News is my favorite section of the New York Times. I haven’t been following the story and thus don’t know a lot about Targamadze and the riots he purportedly incited, only that he seems to be in a lot of hot water with both the Russian and Georgian governments. I’ll end this rather before I fall asleep, even if it’s a bit shorter than my usual.