Abstract

CSJ-09-0022.0PO This case study examines how the media is both observer and participant in what are often characterized as “the culture wars”—ideological stand-offs in US society between conservative and liberal influence groups. In June 2005, the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed by recognized conservative voice Debra Burlingame, in which she levied charges against a proposed International Freedom Center (IFC) at the World Trade Center memorial site. Burlingame, whose brother died in the September 11, 2001, attacks, objected to IFC plans to present 9/11 as one in a long history of horrific incidents demonstrating man’s inhumanity to man—including the Holocaust, treatment of Native Americans, and racial discrimination. Burlingame claimed such a display was driven by liberal ideology, and diminished the truth that all 9/11 dead were innocent victims. As some media outlets, both print and broadcast, chose to cover the fact of Burlingame’s op-ed and the controversy it sparked, editors at the New York Times were driven to consider whether and how to cover what became a self-feeding story. Was it news, or propaganda?

Students are asked to think about the degree to which the media itself plays a role in exacerbating and perpetuating political or ideological altercations that are part and parcel of a democratic society. They will look also at the politics of memorials, a particularly difficult subject to cover. Burlingame apparently wrote her piece to precipitate a storm of protest against IFC. When that in fact occurred, was that newsworthy? If the New York Times covers the incident, is it lending credibility to what is arguably a public relations gambit? Students should discuss how to decide whether a public voice speaks for many, or for itself. What is the threshold for covering viable public discourse, versus providing free publicity for a skirmish in the culture wars?