Stanford Report, Mar. 31, 2004

IN PRINT

IN RESPONSE TO THE LATEST response to the latest revelation of a top journalist who fabricated and plagiarized stories -- in this case former USA Today foreign correspondent Jack Kelley -- communication Professor TED GLASSER suggests that newspapers increase the use of random fact-checking, in which subjects are asked about the accuracy of the story. "Like random drug testing, it would send a clear message to staffers that the newsroom will hold them accountable for their mistakes," Glasser told USA Today March 21. The newspaper noted that it already does some random fact-checking and closely tracks complaints and requests for corrections.

THE SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS reported March 17 that almost 80 percent of 13- to 19-year-olds fail to speak out against the exclusion of another child who wants to be included in a group because they are afraid they will also become outcasts. LAURA LEETS, acting associate professor of communication, interviewed 682 adolescents in South Bay high schools for a study she co-authored on the social dynamics of rejection. The research, published in last December's Journal of Language and Social Psychology, is the first to interview adolescents in depth about such intergroup communication and to reveal the pervasiveness of the practice. According to Leets, adults who interact with teens have a major role to play in setting a tone of mutual respect and responsibility among youth. "Adults need to be reminded that adolescent and childhood peer culture has the tendency toward cruelty," Leets said. "The experience of being humiliated, degraded, unattractive and disrespected is commonplace for our youth. We need to emphasize to young people that self- and other-respect is based on choice and thoughtful reflection. It is never acceptable to be humiliated or to humiliate others. This is especially important given that attention to dignity and the related central values and moral principles are not easy to find in the larger society."

ON MARCH 21, THE SAN FRANCISCO Chronicle reflected on what happened to the millions of peace activists who thronged the streets of 600 cities worldwide in the weeks leading up to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq a year ago. After those demonstrations, antiwar leaders basked in the glow of a New York Times report that described the demonstrations as evidence of "two superpowers on the planet: the United States and world public opinion." MO FIORINA, the Wendt Family Professor in the Department of Political Science and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, said the antiwar movement "hasn't had much influence at all. It's reality that's had an influence. We didn't find weapons of mass destruction. We didn't have an exit strategy. But that's the reality. It didn't have anything to do with the antiwar movement."