Barnicle's resignation was a must, say 2 veteran journalists
Kim Weidman
World Center
08.20.98
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Mike Barnicle holds George Carlin's book.
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ARLINGTON, Va. -- In a profession where credibility is vital,
less-than-truthful Boston Globe columnist Mike Barnicle deserved to
lose his job, two veteran journalists said at the Newseum.
"He damaged what is most important about his profession. ... We in the
profession want people to believe what we write. We want people to
believe we have an investment in the truth," Newseum Executive Director
Joe Urschel said today at an Inside Media program.
Barnicle resigned yesterday at the Globe's request while still
serving a
two-month, unpaid suspension for using jokes in his column from a book
by comedian George Carlin.
But this week Reader's Digest Executive Editor William Schulz told
the Globe his magazine's fact-checkers had determined that a 1995
column
Barnicle wrote about two children, one white and one black, who had
formed a friendship while in the hospital for cancer treatment, "had no
basis in fact."
Urschel and Freedom Forum President Peter S. Prichard said Barnicle's
actions were inexcusable, and that the Globe was right to pressure
him to resign.
Barnicle "violated one of the basic tenants of journalism, which is
tell the truth and be an accurate reporter," Prichard said. "He deserves
to be fired."
Urschel said, "The only reason I think you would actually make something
up would be out of absolute desperation or just abject stupidity."
But as a former columnist for USA TODAY, Urschel said he understood
the pressure Barnicle was constantly under to turn out creative, interesting
pieces.
"There was never any time ... when I wasn't thinking, 'What am I going
to write next?'" Urschel said.
Prichard agreed that in column writing, "It's easy to just stray over
the line into fiction."
He said the proliferation of news media outlets, along with Internet
sites that give instantaneous news updates, had created pressure from
within the news industry to speed up reporting.
"People in newsrooms feel pressure to break big stories, to get
attention, to have the hot new [story] on the air," Prichard said.
But he was at a loss to explain why high-profile media and
political figures have been making such large, careless mistakes this
summer.
"Human behavior is hard to understand, as we learn from watching our
president," Prichard said.
