Bias & Beyond: Reporter Looks At The New World Of Politicized Journalism, February 24

Chestertown, MD, February 11, 2005 — Has the idea of journalism as an objective presentation of facts and information become outmoded? Has today's news media become so ideologically-driven that the American public can no longer determine what is fact and what is opinion? Washington College's Goldstein Program in Public Affairs takes a deeper look at this issue with “Bias & Beyond: Liberals, Conservatives, and the New World of Political Journalism,” a talk by Stephen Hayes, staff writer for The Weekly Standard, Thursday, February 24, at 7:30 p.m. in the College's Hynson Lounge. The event is free and the public is invited to attend.

A graduate of DePauw University and Columbia University's School of Journalism, Hayes is a staff writer for The Weekly Standard and author of The Connection: How Al Qaeda's Cooperation with Saddam Hussein Has Endangered America (Harper Collins, 2004). Before joining The Weekly Standard, Hayes was a senior writer for National Journal's Hotline and served for six years as Director of the Institute on Political Journalism at Georgetown University.

Hayes has been a guest on numerous televised political roundtables—CNN's Crossfire andLate Edition with Wolf Blitzer, C-SPAN's Washington Journal, Fox's Hannity and Colmes andThe O'Reilly Factor, MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, NBC's Meet the Press, and The McLaughlin Group—and has written for the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, New York Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, Reason, Salon, and National Review. He is currently completing a master's degree in public policy and social philosophy at Georgetown University and lives outside Washington, DC.

The talk is sponsored by Washington College's Goldstein Program in Public Affairs, established in honor of the late Louis L. Goldstein, a 1935 alumnus and Maryland's longest serving elected official. The Goldstein Program sponsors lectures, symposia, visiting fellows, travel and other projects that bring students and faculty together with leaders in public policy and the media.