David Westin
Biography and Quotes

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David Westin, Cokie Roberts’s boss, doesn’t think the World Trade Center was a legitimate military target but refused to say the same about the terrorist targeting of the Pentagon building, headquarters of the Department of Defense. Appearing at a Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism event last Tuesday shown on C-SPAN over the weekend, the President of ABC News demurred: "The Pentagon as a legitimate target? I actually don’t have an opinion on that." [See Web Update below]

Westin maintained that "our job is to determine what is, not what ought to be." He elaborated: "I can say the Pentagon got hit, I can say this is what their position is, this is what our position is, but for me to take a position this was right or wrong, I mean, that’s perhaps for me in my private life, perhaps it’s for me dealing with my loved one, perhaps it’s for my minister at church. But as a journalist I feel strongly that’s something that I should not be taking a position on."

Westin was responding to a questioner in the audience who, picking up on Westin’s observation in his address to the group that thousands of innocent civilians were killed in the attack on the World Trade Center, inquired: "Do you believe the Pentagon was a legitimate military target, even if the missile was not?"

(I believe by "missile" the questioner meant the planes hitting the World Trade Center.)

Westin replied at the October 23 event which C-SPAN played on Saturday night, October 27: "The Pentagon as a legitimate target? I actually don’t have an opinion on that and it’s important I not have an opinion on that as I sit here in my capacity right now. The way I conceive my job running a news organization, and the way I would like all the journalists at ABC News to perceive it, is there is a big difference between a normative position and a positive position. Our job is to determine what is, not what ought to be and when we get into the job of what ought to be I think we’re not doing a service to the American people. I can say the Pentagon got hit, I can say this is what their position is, this is what our position is, but for me to take a position this was right or wrong, I mean, that’s perhaps for me in my private life, perhaps it’s for me dealing with my loved ones, perhaps it’s for my minister at church. But as a journalist I feel strongly that’s something that I should not be taking a position on. I’m supposed to figure out what is and what is not, not what ought to be."

[Web Update: -- On October 31 ABC News e-mailed to the MRC this statement from ABC News President David Westin: "Like all Americans, I was horrified at the loss of life at the Pentagon, as well as in New York and Pennsylvania on September 11. When asked at an interview session at the Columbia Journalism School whether I believed that the Pentagon was a legitimate target for terrorists I responded that, as a journalist, I did not have an opinion. I was wrong. I gave an answer to journalism students to illustrate the broad, academic principle that all journalists should draw a firm line between what they know and what their personal opinion might be. Upon reflection, I realized that my answer did not address the specifics of September 11. Under any interpretation, the attack on the Pentagon was criminal and entirely without justification. I apologize for any harm that my misstatement may have caused."]

CyberAlert. Tracking Liberal Media Bias Since 1996 |
Monday October 29, 2001 (Vol. Six; No. 168) | Back to Today's CyberAlert | Free Subscription
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