West Virginia University - News and Information Services
Journalists to debate moral values, politics at WVU's Festival of Ideas Monday
“Moral values” was the catch phrase of the 2004 presidential election. President Bush’s chief political adviser told The New York Times that moral values were responsible for the Republican victory. The Gallup Organization’s exit polls identified moral values as one of the most important issues to voters. Commentators, both Republican and Democrat, tried to define the term and to interpret why so many voters adhered to it.
During Monday’s (March 28) Festival of Ideas at West Virginia University, journalists Jonah Goldberg and Peter Beinart will debate this topic and its impact on the election in “Reds vs. Blues: The Question of Moral Values in America.” The presentation begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Mountainlair Ballroom.
Goldberg, representing the “Reds,” is editor-at-large of the National Review Online, for which he writes his “The Goldberg File” column three times a week. He is a contributing editor of the National Review’s print edition.
In addition, Goldberg is the author of a nationally syndicated column, a CNN contributor and a regular panelist on “ Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer.” He has also appeared on the political talk show “ Crossfire.”
Goldberg got his start as a researcher for the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., and later became a television producer.
During his television career, he served as senior producer of “ Think Tank with Ben Wattenberg,” an award-winning public affairs program, and wrote and produced two documentaries for PBS.
Now an award-winning journalist, Goldberg has rapidly become one of the dominant players in Web journalism. The New York Press called Goldberg’s work with The National Review Online “by far the best political online operation going today.” Goldberg’s work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Weekly Standard, Slate and other nationally recognized publications.
One of the most prominent young conservative journalists today, Goldberg also speaks on college campuses to spread the idea that political, media and cultural issues are both enlightening and entertaining.
Beinart, representing the “Blues,” is the editor of The New Republic. He has written about the changing politics of America’s cities, globalization and African politics.
Additionally, he writes The New Republic’s signature “TRB” weekly column, which is reprinted in the New York Post and other newspapers.
Beinart graduated from Yale University in 1993. During his senior year, he was offered both Rhodes and Marshall scholarships for graduate study at Oxford University.
During his studies as a Rhodes Scholar, he wrote for The New Republic, Newsweek and London ’s Financial Times, and after earning his master’s degree, he went to work for The New Republic.
Also among his writing credits are articles for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal , The Boston Globe, Atlantic Monthly and Time magazine, where he is a contributor to the back page’s “Essay.”
Beinart has been a guest on “ This Week with George Stephanopoulos” on ABC News, “ The McLaughlin Group,” “ Nightline,” “ Hardball” and other TV political talk shows.
He has also appeared numerous times on C-SPAN as a political commentator, on MTV during the first night of the Iraq war and on election eve 2004, and on a variety of CNN programs, including “ Paula Zahn Now” and “ Inside Politics.”
Other Festival speakers include:
- April 18 – Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, discussing fast food and “Supersize Me,” his documentary look at what it’s like to really live on such fare;
- April 25 – Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh, who will close the series with a look at Sept. 11 and its aftermath to Abu Ghraib.
All Festival of Ideas presentations are free and open to the public and begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Mountainlair Ballroom. Seating is limited on a first-come, first-served basis. Festival of Ideas is produced by WVU Arts & Entertainment.
For more information, call 293-SHOW or go to http://www.events.wvu.edu.
Office: (304) 293-6997