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E W S Jonathan Alter, who returned to Andover as the recipient of the third annual Kayden Visiting Fellow Award in Journalism, reflects on television, cynicism and this year's presidential campaign. |
An Eye on the News If it's true, as Newsweek editor and television pundit Jonathan Alter '75 told a crowd at Kemper Auditorium in late April, that we're in an era of news as entertainment, it's not because Americans are dumber or more shallow than in the past. In fact, according to Alter, they're smarter. What he sometimes calls "the Geraldo-zation of the news" is simply symptomatic of good times and the absence of cataclysmic global change. Alter, a graduate of Dartmouth College, returned to Andover as recipient of the third annual Kayden Visiting Fellow Award in Journalism. He was introduced to the PA audience by Dan Schwerin '00, last year's editor of the academy's student newspaper, The Phillipian. As senior editor at Newsweek and as a commentator with NBC, Alter has won numerous awards for feeling the pulse of American society. But he informed his Andover audience he was more nervous in front of them than going live on election night with Tom Brokaw. "It's because of the respect I have for this institution and my teachers," said Alter, who served as editor of The Phillipian in his senior year. He hailed history instructors Tom Lyons, Ed Quattlebaum '60 and the late Fritz Allis, and English instructor Kelly Wise, for nourishing his love of history, literature and public affairs and setting him on his life's career. Taking cynicism as his topic, Alter acknowledged "the asinine quality of a lot of what we read and
Copyright, Phillips Academy, 2000
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see" in the news and the tendency of round-the-clock coverage to "wring everything dry." "That intensity diminishes whatever it focuses on," he said. "We beat stories to death for money. I didn't think about money when I was at Andover. I didn't go into journalism expecting so much would be made of the bottom line." Focusing on television, Alter declared, "The most important thing is not to take it terribly seriously. I still want to say things that are as insightful as possible and try to go beyond the headlines. But for the networks, it's filling time; and for the viewers, it's passing time." Reflecting on this year's presidential campaign, Alter awarded Al Gore a "cynicism prize" for distorting rival Bill Bradley's position on health care. He gave another to George W. Bush '64 for failing to denounce the "crackpot veteran" supporter who, he said, unfairly accused opponent John McCain of not aiding veterans. But cynicism is a pitfall he urged his listeners to avoid. There's a distinction between cynicism and skepticism, he asserted, and a healthy skepticism is "crucial armor for anybody to carry." He said people must accommodate both skepticism and idealism, "two seemingly contrary notions," and always be ready to act in a more hopeful and idealistic way. —Deborah Fitts '63 |
