PressEthic

The New Yorker is currently on tour, and is in Iowa City this week.

Two of the featured presenters were interviewed for the Des Moines Register. The first, humor writer Andy Borowitz, is asked:

Q. A recent poll in our newspaper said basically that America doesn't know much about Iowa. What do you know about Iowa?

There was no link to the poll, so I have no idea how scientific or accurate it is, but since it’s a humor writer being interviewed, I just took it with a grain of salt and read on.

The other interview subject, writer George Packer, was also asked about America’s ignorance. First:

Q. What is it about Iraq that Americans don't understand?

A.It's been hard for Americans to accept how complicated it is there. Most Americans want an up-down, yes-no answer to whether we're right or wrong, succeeding or failing. Certainly the summer of 2003 when I was reporting that piece it was anything but simple. What interested me most was how Iraqis and Americans viewed each other. There were misunderstandings and suspicions, but a fair amount of good will on both sides and a desire to reach out and find out who these other people were. That has changed. The violence is so enormous.

And later:

Q. What is it about Iraq that the American media isn't reporting?

A. It's not that they're not reporting it. I read the Times, the Post, the newsweeklies, the monthly magazines, and there's a lot of information. The biggest problem reporting in Iraq is you can't talk to Iraqis without putting yourself and them at risk. You can't walk the streets or go to a restaurant or go to someone's home. So inevitably the point of view of the Iraqis starts to disappear in stories. Honest journalists say they don't know what's going on with Iraqis in this stage of the war. So many parts of Iraq journalists just can't go. Every journalist has the nightmare of kidnapping in the back of his mind.

What’s going on here? Are Americans really that uninformed? Well… maybe. After all, the safety question mentioned in Packer’s later answer is a fair point.

But overall, if America really is that ignorant as a whole, whose fault is that? Is it the American people, who only want to hear about things that are sensational? Is it the reporters, who tend to be urban, educated, and/or liberal and (according to a professor at my undergrad) are just out of touch with how most of America thinks?

Or is it just odd that, in such a short article, three major paragraphs focus on this ignorance?

Sure, everyone could stand to know a little more about his or her fellow humans. But the Register’s focus makes me wonder: what, exactly, is reporter Reid Forgrave trying to get at?

Because if he has a point, maybe he should just make it – preferably on the opinion pages.