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THE TUFTS DAILY
TUFTSDAILY.COM
Friday, November 7, 2014
VOLUME LXVIII, NUMBER 42
Where You Read It First Est. 1980
Matt Bai discusses tabloidization of political journalism by Denali Tietjen Daily Editorial Board
National Political Columnist for Yahoo News and former Chief Political Correspondent for The New York Times Magazine Matt Bai (LA ’90) hosted a lecture for Tufts community members yesterday evening in Alumnae Lounge. The dinner discussion was centered around his latest book, “All the Truth Is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid,” which looks at the tabloidization of political journalism that arose from the 24-hour news cycle. The lecture, co-sponsored by the Communications and Media Studies Program and the Department of Political Science, was the third event in the Tisch College Distinguished Speaker Series. In his book, Bai points to the Gary Hart scandal as the critical turning point in the ethos of political journalism. In 1987, Hart was the leading democratic presidential candidate, ahead of sitting Vice President George H. W. Bush by double digits in the polls. Then, in an unprecedented manner, tabloids broke news about his infidelity, and within one week, the first political sex scandal had shattered the candidate’s campaign, according to Bai.
He recounted one particular press conference as a watershed moment in the ethos of political media, when The Washington Post’s Paul Taylor had been given a lead about one of Hart’s affairs and confronted him directly at the conference. “Taylor says quietly, ‘Senator, I have a series of questions I’d like to go through with you,’” Bai narrated. “He says, ‘Do you consider yourself a moral person?’ Hart says, ‘Yes.’ ‘Do you consider adultery to be immoral?’ Hart says, ‘I suppose it is.’ ‘Senator have you ever committed adultery?’ There’s no candidate that had ever heard this.” Bai criticized the media’s treatment of politicians as celebrities, explaining that by defining politicians by their flaws and scandals, rather than their relevant political views, truly visionary politicians like Hart are lost to sensationalism. “[Hart] was a rare visionary in politics,” he said. “In the mid 1980s, he was talking about the rise of extremist Islamic terror, he’s talking about the transition from a manufacturing-based economy to an informationbased economy, he’s talking about energy independence as a matter of national security that will eventually lead to wars in the middle east, he’s talking abut
climate — he’s so far out ahead of his moment that most of what he’s saying is completely new.” The Hart scandal changed not only the media’s approach to political stories, but politicians’ approach too. Bai explained that politicians are hesitant to speak with the media out of fear of their words being used against them. “I covered a few more presidential campaigns, and I sat across from these candidates who looked at me like I was a hired assassin,” he said. “They didn’t want to say anything, they didn’t want to offer any ideas — they were scared to death, they were cautious, they were timid — and I thought to myself, ‘What have we created?’” Bai explained that the Hart scandal forever changed the ethos of political media. “In the years after the Hart scandal, the prime director, the guiding ethos in political journalism, shifts from trying to understand your world views and your ideas and your agendas, where you come from intellectually, to try and find out where the flaw is, the character flaw,” he said. “The idea is … ‘We know you’re a liar, we know you’re a hypocrite. It’s our job to figure out how and present that to the voters.’” The sensationalism of the existing political media culture
Open Hillel dialogue reaches Tufts campus by Ian James
Contributing Writer
There are few organizations on campus that can boast the size and clout of Tufts Hillel. A thriving center for Jewish life on campus, Tufts Hillel has taken on a life of its own over the past years, boasting a multitude of speakers, dinners and student-run social justice initiatives. Programming aims to address the cultural, educational, social and religious needs of the Jewish community, according to Rabbi and Neubauer Executive Director Jeffrey Summit. “Over the holidays there are hundreds and hundreds of students that come to Hillel, and we have dinners and services, but also there are regular things that are in the Jewish communities,” Summit said. “Religious gatherings are often also social gatherings and cultural gatherings, so on Friday night we will see 150 people here on a Shabbat.” On a larger scale, Hillel is also the world largest Jewish student organization. It was founded in 1923 at University of Illionois at Urbana-Champaign, and currently serves over 550 campuses. However, the Granoff Hillel Center doesn’t provide a home to every Jewish student. Senior Julia Wedgle, who was involved with Hillel as a first-year and a sophomore, does not feel welcome in Tufts Hillel, and asserts that she’s not the only one. She believes that one of the main reasons for this is Hillel’s Standards of Partnership.
According to Hillel International’s website, the Standards of Partnership state that “Hillel will not partner with, house or host organizations, groups or speakers that as a matter of policy or practice: deny the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish and democratic state with secure and recognized borders, delegitimize, demonize or apply a double standard to Israel, support boycott of, divestment from or sanctions against the State of Israel, exhibit a pattern of disruptive behavior toward campus events or guest speakers or foster an atmosphere of incivility.” Wedgle said that she opposes the Standards of Partnership because she believes that they restrict the definition of being Jewish. “I would remove them completely, because I don’t think that we should have a litmus test for being Jewish, and I don’t think that Judaism and Zionism should be equated, she said. I don’t think that Hillel should be allowed to dictate to me what being Jewish means, and it shouldn’t be able to tell me that to be Jewish I have to be a Zionist, and that’s what the Standards of Partnership do.” Sophomore Anna Linton, the vice president of outreach programming of the Hillel Student Executive Board, said she believes Hillel’s versatility is one of its most valuable assets. “I think the thing about Hillel that is most special to me is that it offers whatever you need it to," she said. “Sometimes I go to Hillel because I just need a place to hang see, HILLEL page 2
Inside this issue
Sofie Hecht / The Tufts Daily
Author and political columnist for Yahoo News Matt Bai speaks about the nature of modern politics’ relationship with the media. not only ostracizes politicians like Hart, but enables less qualified politicians who flourish in the media to gain power, Bai noted. “We have created a culture that reduces people to the worst things we’ve ever done,” he said. “We have created a culture without context, without the totality of a person’s public service or life or devotion or honesty
and basically defines you as the worst thing you’ve ever done. In doing so, we create a process in which we drum good people out of public life, but you make it awfully easy for people to go through the process on character and celebrity without … telling you what they believe, and they may have no business running the country.”
Dartmouth professor presents research on invasive species by Patrick McGrath Daily Editorial Board
Rebecca Irwin, associate professor of biological sciences at Dartmouth College, spoke about the impacts invasive species have on native populations during a lecture yesterday for the Environmental Studies Lunch & Learn Program. During the event, which was sponsored by both the Environmental Studies Program and Tufts Institute of the Environment, Irwin spoke about the interdisciplinary research on which she has collaborated. Irwin divided the lecture into three separate discussions focusing on the causes and then the consequences of invasive species, as well as the solutions for more sustainable management of the invasive plants. She started by underscoring the role humans have played in facilitating the spread of such species. “Humans are really noteworthy in both altering the landscape and moving species around,” she said. Invasive species have been a leading driver of environmental change and loss of biodiversity, particularly in the United States, Irwin added. She explained that the research team looked to examine what factors affect the susceptibility of communities to invasion, noting that by correctly identifying contributing factors, they would be able to create a link to invasion. In the past, researchers have looked closely at the human population size relative to invasive species, and they have
identifying with birds, fish and plants, according to Irwin. The aim of their research was to demonstrate that there are important things that humans do to the landscape that may be linked to the rise of invasive species. Irwin showed graphs indicating that as the world population increases, the rates of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere grows, and as state populations grow, the number of exotic plants per state grows. She said that this begs the question of what humans and population size are doing to the landscape to cause the change — a question that she sought to answer. “When combined, ecological properties and economic activities predict the number of exotic plants in an ecosystem,” she hypothesized, noting that economic activity usually gives a good indication of general human activity. Irwin explained that the development of a model required a mix of human, economic and ecological factors. “There are certain aspects of economic activity that might be strongly linked to invasions,” she said, pointing in particular to real estate development and how it disturbs landscapes. Overall, Irwin showed that her team’s research demonstrated a positive relationship between real estate gross state product (GSP) and the number of exotic plants. She posited two models as explanations — a population model and an exotic-economic see INVASIVE, page 2
Today’s sections
Jay Ricky presents his collection of P.T. Barnum artifacts.
Athletics Department leads the way in gender equality among coaches.
see ARTS, page 3
see SPORTS, back
News 1 Arts & Living 3 Classifieds 5
Comics Sports
6 Back