SEPTEMBER 12, 2019 – Yesterday evening I attended the annual “dinner at the Algonquin” with this year’s class of the World Press Institute (“WPI”) fellowship program. Each year our organization brings journalists from around the world to the U.S. for a nine-week tour of media centers and other urban and rural corners of this sprawling country. The idea is to give them an “insider’s view” of American journalism and provide them with insights and perspectives that can enhance their careers back in the own countries. Also present were members of the board of directors and the wife of the founder, Harry Morgan, who 56 years ago had fired up the organization from whole cloth. Morgan was a tour de force. His seed capital was in the form of a personal grant from Dewitt Wallace, who was a native of St. Paul, Minnesota, an alumnus of Macalester College (St. Paul) and founder of Reader’s Digest.
This year’s fellows hail from Kashmir, Finland, Belarus, Bulgaria, Hungary, South Africa, Uganda, Algeria, Romania, and Uruguay. They are an impressive group, and in lengthy conversations at the Algonquin, I was heartened by what these people are contributing to the world. Already they have extracted much from the program, but much more awaits them here in New York, then Washington, D.C., Miami, Austin, TX, Seattle, Chicago, and back in Minnesota.
In his welcoming remarks, Howard Morgan, our board member-host and son of the founder, said, “Good journalism is as important today as it was back [when WPI was founded].” I would amend that to say, “Good journalism is more important now than ever.”
None of us can possibly know firsthand all that’s necessary even to begin to understand our world and times. We have to rely on evidence one or more steps removed from our limited vantage points. Bots, partisans, manipulators of all stripes are more than eager to shower us with “content” that passes for “news and information.” Much of this “news” is intentionally distorted, and much is negligently misstated to the same distorted effect. Gathering, then checking, a sufficient volume of material facts; vetting sources for integrity and reliability; laying out a story cogently and credibly, and all under immense time pressures—these are the critical roles of good journalists. Without them, democracy withers and dies.
A central role of journalism in democracy is to ensure transparency in government. Elective office holders can complain all day long about “the media,” but without the hounds of journalism, the machinery of government would become opaque. What follows opacity is invariably corruption, incompetence, and worse.
In a small but persistent way, Harry Morgan’s brainchild has made the world a better place. The organization runs on a shoe-string budget. Many hours are volunteered by committed supporters. To keep the mission alive, we can never ease the pedal on fund-raising. Your donations are most welcome and efficiently deployed To make a gift and to learn more about WPI, go to https://worldpressinstitute.org/support-wpi/donate/
© 2019 Eric Nilsson
