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3-3.10
Ellen Goodman Speaks at
Meredith College
Erin Etheridge, Staff Writer
A Pulitzer Prize winner
and nationally syndicated colum
nist gave the 2009 - 2010 academic
year’s second Presidential Lecture
at Meredith College’s Jones Audi
torium at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday,
February 23.
Ellen Goodman, whose
column has been syndicated by The
Washington Post Writers Group for
34 years, spoke about the current
state of media and politics in the
United States. In her lecture, titled
“The Political is (Too) Personal,
the Media is (Too) Polarized, and
Television News in an Oxymoron,”
Goodman maintained that political
commentary has evolved into “food
fight journalism.”
“Journalism is supposed to
be about keeping us connected,”
affirmed Goodman, who won the
1980 Pulitzer Prize for distin
guished commentary. However,
she explained that because of the
pursuit of money, what she deemed
“infotainment” and “unreality” have
taken over the nation’s television
sets.
Goodman, a self-proclaimed
member of “what it means journal
ism,” went on to argue, “Politics has
become polarized and commentary
has become a contact sport.” She
attributed this trend to the popular
ity of cable and reality television se
ries because of the drama involved,
the desire for conflict in place of
reasonable discussion, and a need
for quick and dirty resolutions to
problems. Refer
ring to such political
coverage as “opinion
hurling rather than
opinion sharing,”
Goodman concluded,
“It has become
much harder to tell
the pundit from the
politician, and the
information from the
entertainment.”
In order to
improve the United
States’ media cover
age, Goodman sug
gested emphasizing
the premise of the
nation’s member
ship in a global community. She
reasoned that if the media realized
it represented the image of Amer
ica throughout the world, then it
would become aware of the need
to patch up itself. “Telhng people
what you think begins with think
ing,” Goodman stated.
Goodman, who referred to
herself as a “newly discharged civil
ian” due to her retirement from
column writing earlier in the year,
also offered several remedies for
food fight journalism in particular.
She rationalized that this particular
form of media coverage will cease if
citizens have enough of it and turn
away from it. She then exclaimed
simply, “Turn it off!”
However, she also left her
audience with a warning regard-
IIS ISSU
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Opinion: Questioning the Preacher. Public Restroom.s
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Email herald@meredith.edu
photo courtesy of Dr. Walton
ing the pace of such media change.
Quoting Jack Kerouac, an Ameri
can novelist and poet, Goodman
reminded her listeners, “Walking on
water wasn’t built in a day.”
Goodman’s visit to Mer
edith College began earlier in the
day when she talked informally
with students at a 3:30 p.m. discus
sion session in Kresge Auditorium.
A reception was then held in her
honor at 5:30 p.m. in the Atrium of
the Science and Mathematics build
ing. This event was attended by the
college’s alumnae, faculty, friends,
staff, students, and trustees.
Following Goodman’s
lecture, a brief question and answer
session, moderated by Doctor Eloise
Grathwohl of the English Depart
ment, took place in Jones Audito
rium. Goodman concluded her visit
to campus with a reception in the
Rotunda of Johnson Hall, to which
the Meredith and greater Raleigh
communities were invited.
Goodman’s campus visit was
one of this year’s events celebrating
Meredith’s Founder’s Day. The cam
pus community gathers every year
to commemorate the granting of the
college’s institutional charter by the
North Carolina Legislature on Feb
ruary 27,1891. Goodman’s lecture
was also one of three comprising
the college’s Presidential Lecture
Series, sponsored by Blue Cross and
Blue Shield of North Garolina since
the series’ establishment in 2005.
Goodman^as well as her fellow
speakers, was selected to address
the 2009 - 2010 academic year’s
Nuclear
Enrichment in
Iran
Mariamawit Tadesse, Staff Writer
For years, there had been suspicions of
an ongoing nuclear program in Iran, so the
\vorld was not surprised when Iran finally
announced its nuclear program. Tehran has
said it wants to enrich uranium up to 20%
to produce isotopes for medical use and to
generate electricity. It currently has plans to
build trvo new nuclear sites this year.
.\ccording to France24 News, Yukiya
Amano, chief of the International Atomic
Energy Agency (lAlv\), expressed con
cern that Iran might be tiying to develop
a nuclear warhead. Ali .Asghar Soltanieh,
Iran’s envoy to the I,\E.\, told .Al-.Iazeera
News that the report was “baseless and that
Iran’s nuclear program is solely for peace
ful purposes.’’ Even though ^veapons- grade
uranium is at least go% enriched, some
experts believe enriching 20% is a forward
stei) towards acquiring nuclear weapon.
Iranian President Mahmoud .-\hmadine-
jad has dismissed US Secretaty of State
I lillaiy Clinton’s ‘militaiy dictatorship'
labeling of his presidency. I le went on to
sa>' that "any countiy trying to impose new
sanctions on Iran would regret its actions."
Since 2007, the United Nations Security-
Council has put three rounds of sanctions
on Iran in relations to its nuclear program
which the country has not fully been co
operating with, according to the BBC. US
Sccrctaiy of State Uillaiy Clinton has made
recent trips to Saudi .Arabia and Russia to
discuss about Iran’s uranium enrichment.
The US is pushing the UN Security Coun
cil to impose a fourth round of sanctions.
China on the other hand is against any new
round sanctions, saying greater diplomatic
efforts are needed.
campus theme, “Catalysts for Change.”
Besides being awarded a Pulitzer
Prize, Goodman has been the recipient of
the American Society of Newspaper Editors
Distinguished Writing Award, the Hubert
H. Humphrey Civil Rights Award, the Ernie
Pyle Award for Lifetime Achievement, and
many more. Following her 1963 gradua
tion from Radcliffe College, she worked
at Newsweek, The Detroit Free Press, and
The Boston Globe. For more information
on Goodman and her work, look for any
of her three books or six collections of her
columns, which have been published in over
300 newspapers, affording her the distinc
tion of being one of the nation’s two most
syndicated columnists.
The last speaker of the 2009 - 2010
Presidential Lecture Series, Nancy Good
man Brinker, is scheduled to speak in
Jones Auditorium on April 21. Brinker, who
founded the Susan G. Komen for the Cure
breast cancer organization, will give her ad
dress at 7:00 p.m.