By Mandy Feder
I first heard about Joe in a government or history class in junior high school.
Over the years Joe”s name came up time-and-time-again, not just as a part of United States history, but also in matters of critical thinking and sociology.
Man, he had people scared. The masses worried that there might be a communist next door. It was a long time ago. But the lessons he imparted to those in the field of journalism are priceless and timeless.
Republican Senator Joseph R. McCarthy of Wisconsin made repeated charges that the national government was riddled with communist spies.
McCarthy acquainted himself with the practices of the press. In other words, he knew about deadlines.
He counted on the fact that journalists are competitive and wanted the scoop.
He preyed on their weaknesses. He waited until just before deadline time, after public offices closed, leaving those reporting to decide between getting the story first and getting the facts from a secondary source.
He taught us all to get it right, not get it first.
It is truly uncommon in United States history that the press is so prominently interwoven in this particular type of major controversy.
For that matter it is uncommon for public officials or public figures to intentionally manipulate the media to the degree in which McCarthy practiced.
According to Pew Research Center”s Project for Excellence in Journalism, “The press was widely blamed for providing McCarthy with a forum for his unsubstantiated charges. This set off soul-searching and debates among journalists that helped lead to new practices in both publishing and broadcasting.”
I learned from Joe to look for patterns.
Sometimes I get calls late into the evening that really bump my deadline. It is crucial to be available and have reputable sources in government and law enforcement to call upon when a major story breaks.
However, if a public official or figure calls or e-mails regarding a story that could have and should have been brought to the attention of the media during usual business hours, it presents a McCarthy-style red flag, primarily if it is a common occurrence.
McCarthy did not want the opposing viewpoints represented, so he attempted to eliminate the possibility of those people speaking to the press.
Even though news is gathered and distributed differently today than it was in McCarthy”s time, the lesson remains timely.
The level of proof required for publication must be stringent.
Joe knew that fear drives people and he supplied sensational statements that fostered fear.
Fear is popular, therefore the unsubstantiated claims and sensational statements made by McCarthy garnered a wider audience of readers, which sold more newspapers. But it was unethical to print these one-sided articles.
Not only did journalists learn to obtain more sources for each article, they also learned to watch for ulterior motives.
We now look for statements that are reckless and calculated.
We now challenge officials to substantiate allegations.
Ultimately a journalist brought down the beast when McCarthy was preparing an attack on Edward R. Murrow.
Murrow had been collecting material about McCarthy and his Senate Investigating Committee for several years.
For those who haven”t seen it, I highly recommend the 2005 movie “Good Night, and Good Luck,” that chronicles the events of McCarthy and Murrow.
According to Pew Research Center, “Although McCarthyism has long been a household word used almost daily in public dialogue to characterize unfair tactics of one”s opponents, few people born after 1950 are familiar with the state of communications that enabled Senator McCarthy to manipulate public opinion as successfully as he did.
“By far the best book in this regard is Joe McCarthy and the Press by Edwin R. Bayley (The University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1981). Bayley covered McCarthy as a reporter for the Milwaukee Journal and served in the Kennedy White House and National Educational Television before joining the graduate school of journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was a professor and dean.
“He took a year”s leave from the university, read and compiled statistics from hundreds of newspapers and interviewed both print and broadcast journalists from coast to coast who were active during the McCarthy era.
“Now retired and living in Carmel, he has returned to Berkeley every year to address journalism students on McCarthy. He said in a telephone interview in December 1999, that conclusions he reached in the book are still valid and the McCarthy experience had a lasting impact on American journalism.”
Most journalists don”t really expect to encounter someone such as McCarthy and most don”t. But all journalists should be prepared for it.
I watch for McCarthy-style characteristics and I am grateful today for the lessons I learned.
And on that note, “Good night, and good luck.”
Mandy Feder is the Record-Bee managing editor. She can be reached at mandyfeder@yahoo.com or 263-5636 ext. 32.
