Former Mass Comm director stresses personal freedoms over national security

After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the United States reached a “slippery slope” concerning the balance of national security against the personal freedoms of citizens, said Joyce Wise Dodd, the former director of U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher’s, D-9th-Va., 2002 campaign.

“We are not paying attention to our Bill of Rights,” she said. “They are eroding under our noses.”

The former director of the VCU School of Mass Communications discussed “Politics and the Mass Media” in a special meeting sponsored by the VCU Young Democrats earlier this semester on campus despite the canceling of afternoon classes because of inclement weather.

Dodd told the students about Bristol Herald-Courier reporter Chris Dumond, who refused to reveal his sources for a story concerning a retired doctor from Marion, Va. A federal judge cited Dumond for being in contempt of court.

Dumond had reported on the arrest of Dr. Tajummal Bhatti, a retired physician, jailed for six days in June 2002 without being officially charged with a complaint.

“The people of this country who are tied to the Islamic faith are under constant scrutiny right now,” Dodd said. “That was First Amendment trouble for the reporter and Sixth Amendment trouble for the jailed suspect, who was not clear on the nature or cause of his incarceration.”

The USA PATRIOT Act, officially titled the “Uniting and Strengthening America Act by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act,” increased the powers of U.S. intelligence-gathering organizations to prevent terrorism, though critics say it has gone too far.

“No, we do not want 9/11 to happen again, but the U.S. PATRIOT Act bears watching closely,” the former WRVA radio journalist said.

To give an example, Dodd showed the audience news articles from the previous day’s New York Times. She pointed out a story about a high school student in Dearborn Heights, Mich., being sent home when he refused to remove a T-shirt displaying a picture of President Bush with the words “International Terrorist.”

According to the New York Times, the student said his school’s vice principal told him he couldn’t wear a shirt that promotes terrorism.

“Now that’s not a nice sentiment that Mr. Barber had on his T-shirt, but it does represent his point of view. And does this suppress his right to free speech?” Dodd asked. “He thinks it does, obviously.”

People as well as reporters are responsible for ensuring the Bill of Rights’ protection, said Dodd, a former copy editor for the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

“It seems that the logical way to make sure the Bill of Rights issues are raised to all of the citizens of the land is to get the message to our politicians where they choose to meet and greet us,” she told the students, “and when they allow question-and-answer sessions with their constituents.”

It is up to reporters to be there and cover these questions being asked as well as the responses of the politicians, she said, adding that reporters must “drill down and follow up” via thorough research to find the cause of any issue.

“Let’s all get busier with protecting our precious liberties,” she insisted.

Identifying another part of the problem, Dodd reminded the audience of a phenomenon she called “label-mongering: Squeeze an issue into a labeled concept and blather for nine seconds on television about it.”

Citing a story about her work in Boucher’s 2002 campaign as an example of “label-mongering,” she said Boucher’s Republican opponent in the campaign accused Boucher of being a “baby-killer,” which highlighted the partial-birth abortion issue.

“Both parties need vision and clear agendas and strong spokespeople who can do more than bash the opposition and blast out disinformation about the other side,” Dodd said.

After the speech, an audience member asked the speaker about the relationships between reporters and politicians.

“Reporters need to really not be friends with politicians … there needs to be a wider chasm where you can lay in liability and responsibility,” Dodd said, recalling that President Harry Truman played cards with reporters.

Another audience member asked what the Democratic Party needs to do to regain control in the U.S. government.

It needs “a platform, and people need to unify around it,” she replied.

Dodd also responded to a question about taxation by saying, “Somebody has to pay for the services we expect,” and politicians “have to show the payoff of raising taxes.”