May 12, 2005

CNN’s Woodruff criticizes lack of foreign reporting

By Amanda Morris

Veteran broadcast journalist Judy Woodruff spoke at Northwestern last week, expressing concern for the direction journalism has been taking and offering foresight for the future of the business.

“Our democracy has no value unless we have a free press,” she said April 21 at the annual Newton and Josephine Minow Lecture in Communications.

“If you care about democracy, then you care about free press, and you care about being well-informed.”

However, according to Woodruff, who anchors “Judy Woodruff’s Inside Politics” weekdays on CNN, cutbacks in newsgathering budgets are compromising the quality of news programs. She found most appalling the absence of foreign reporting.

“In September of 2001, the broadcast networks had one-third as many foreign correspondents as they had 20 years earlier. And not one of them had a correspondent in a Muslim country.”

When asked if she thought international coverage would improve with time, Woodruff said the outlook remains dismal.

“I don’t think it’s going to change because there hasn’t been an outcry from the American people,” she said. “If the people don’t demand more of this kind of coverage, there’s no incentive for news organizations to cover it.”

She addressed the students in the audience, calling for the new generation of journalists to become a force for change.

Before Woodruff’s talk, senior broadcast student Danielle Carlson received the Josephine B. and Newton N. Minow Prize in Communi-cations. She appeared to accept her award via live feed from South Africa, where she is studying abroad.