Journalist Carl Bernstein, best known for breaking the Watergate story for the Washington Post, will speak at UNLV on March 24 as part of the Barbara Greenspun Lecture Series.
Titled "From Watergate to Monica Lewinsky: The Use and Abuse of Media Power," Bernstein's presentation is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall.
The event is free, but tickets are required. Tickets may be picked up at the Performing Arts Center box office at Ham Concert Hall beginning March 14. For more information, call 895-3801.
It was in the early 1970s that Bernstein and fellow Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward broke the Watergate story. The ensuing scandal eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. Woodward and Bernstein wrote two best-selling books on the subject, "All the President's Men" and "The Final Days."
Today, Bernstein is a contributing editor for Vanity Fair magazine.
In a recent article published in the Los Angeles Times, Bernstein wrote, "To begin: What is going on in Washington these manic and depressing days is certainly not Watergate, which was about grave and pervasive abuse of constitutional power by the president. By contrast, the case of Bill Clinton relates to a tawdry sex scandal in which allegations of criminal wrongdoing -- as yet unproved, but likely to remain legally troubling -- would seem to be the unforeseen consequence of an out-of-control libido.
"During Watergate, it is often remarked, the American system -- the press, judiciary, citizenry, legislature -- functioned magnificently. Twenty-five years later, serious questions are being raised not just about the wretched excess of the president but also overdue questions about wretched excess in our media culture, judicial process, and political discourse. Yet, the immediate issue remains the conduct of the president and how Americans judge it."
In other venues, Bernstein has said, "Today, we in journalism limit ourselves more often than the government limits us because we're not willing to do the hard work of good reporting. We don't have enough courage to give our readers and viewers what we know is real news. Instead we pander to them."
He argues that the journalistic legacy of Watergate is at odds with an increasingly irresponsible media culture that routinely celebrates gossip, sensationalism, and manufactured controversy at the expense of real reporting.
After leaving the Post in 1977, Bernstein served as Washington bureau chief and eventually senior correspondent for ABC-TV. While at ABC, he uncovered a secret agreement between the United States, Egypt, China, and Pakistan to supply arms to the Mujahideen rebels in Afghanistan against the Soviets.
Later, when Bernstein served as Time magazine's foreign correspondent in Iraq, his reporting of Saddam Hussein's waning support among the Iraqis resulted in his expulsion from the country by the Iraqi government just prior to the Gulf War.
Bernstein also wrote a cover story for Time revealing a secret alliance between President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II that had kept alive Poland's Solidarity movement and hastened the fall of communism in Europe. His further research into the matter led to his writing "His Holiness: John Paul II and the Hidden History of Our Times," which was coauthored with prominent Vatican journalist Marco Politi. The book was published in 1996.
Bernstein also is the author of "Loyalties: A Son's Memoir," an account of his parents' encounter with McCarthyism.
The Barbara Greenspun Lecture Series is sponsored by UNLV's Hank Greenspun School of Communication in honor of Las Vegas Sun publisher Barbara Greenspun. The school is named in honor of her late husband, Sun founder Hank Greenspun.
For additional information or to check on ticket availability, call 895-3801.
