Syllabus
From American Gulag
Human Rights Journalism (Communication 177K/277K)
Spring 2008
Mon. and Wed., 4:15 to 6:05 p.m.
Building 120, Room 452
Glenn Frankel
Office: Blg. 120, Room 342
(650) 725-7092; cell (703) 973-5503
frankelg@stanford.edu
Office hours: Mon. and Wed. 2 to 4 p.m. or by appointment
ShinJoung Yeo
Bibliographer for Communication & Feminist Studies
shyeo@stanford.edu
Contents |
[edit] Class Description
We also have to work, though, sort of the dark side, if you will. We've got to spend time in the shadows in the intelligence world. A lot of what needs to be done here will have to be done quietly, without any discussion, using sources and methods that are available to our intelligence agencies, if we're going to be successful. That's the world these folks operate in, and so it's going to be vital for us to use any means at our disposal, basically, to achieve our objective. Vice President Dick Cheney on Meet the Press, Sept. 16, 2001
This is the Age of Human Rights. Since World War Two, we’ve seen the rise of the concept of universal rights and the growth of a global movement dedicated to the cause. Governments have signed treaties and conventions committing themselves to opposing genocide, torture and other crimes against humanity. At the same time, nation-states have jealously guarded their sovereignty, cracked down whenever threatened and ignored outbreaks of genocide, manipulating the United Nations and violating their own signed agreements. And, as Dick Cheney suggests, when faced with a threat to its survival even a modern western democracy can swiftly revert to the dark side.
The distance between what governments have pledged on human rights and what they actually do is a gaping chasm. It’s here---in the gray zone between ambiguity and hypocrisy---that journalism lives.
This course will explore the role of journalists in exposing human rights abuses. Reporters have come a long way from the exquisite insensitivity of the BBC TV correspondent who once strode into a crowd of women and children in the former Belgian Congo and inquired: “Anyone here been raped and speaks English?” But they are flawed watchdogs---unburdened by history or long attention spans, capable of willful ignorance and self-aggrandizement. We’ll examine a number of case studies from the past 30 years such as El Salvador, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Bosnia, Sudan and Israel, see how journalists covered these conflicts, what they found out and what they published and the price some of them have paid. We’ll also explore the legal and moral obligations of journalists as witnesses to atrocities and genocide.
But human rights abuses are not confined to Third World despots. Western democracies, faced with perceived threats to their survival, have long been willing to abrogate rights. There is no more compelling contemporary example than the Bush administration’s policies and practices in its declared Global War on Terrorism. In the name of security, the administration has sanctioned torture, extralegal kidnapping, secret prisons and unlimited detention without charge or trial. When these practices have been disclosed, officials have reacted with a pattern of indignation, denial, committees of inquiry, selective prosecutions and promises to do better. The response of the public has been muted---many support the government and others prefer not to know. Pop culture moments, like Fox TV’s “24,” reinforce the idea that torture is necessary and justifiable in combating a mortal threat to society.
The second half of this course will focus on the Bush Administration's "New Paradigm" -- including the the modern history of torture, Bagram, Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, extraordinary rendition, the muted response of Congress and the courts and the administration’s own statements and memos.
We’ll look at the secrets that journalists have uncovered, and try to locate some that remain hidden. Each student will choose a subject area, make a class presentation, write an article and produce a website report. Those who prefer may opt to focus on contemporary human rights issues in another country here are the categories
- The Bush Administration
- Modern History of Torture
- Water-boarding
- Afghanistan: Bagram et al
- Guantanamo
- Extraordinary Rendition and Secret Prisons
- Abu Ghraib
- Haditha
- Human Rights Organizations and the Courts
- The Debate at Home
- International Reaction
- Congress
- Cast of characters---Their Roles and Fate
- Update 2008
A word of caution: For the purposes of this course, we’re journalists, not activists, and among other things we’ll be wrestling with the difference between those two roles. The power of modern journalism stems in large part from its independence, dispassion and evenhandedness, yet these can also serve as moral handcuffs. There are no easy answers here---be prepared to critique, attack and defend.
[edit] The Fine Print
Although I’d love to accommodate everyone who wants to take this class, I have to limit it to 15 students for your sanity and mine. I’m hoping you’ll all have taken an introductory course on reporting and writing the news, or else have taken a course related to human rights. If we’re overbooked, I’ll ask each student to submit a brief paragraph or two on why you want to take the course along with a sample of something you’ve written.
Newsroom rules will apply. I expect you to be on time, attend every class or let me know in advance why you can’t. I expect you to participate in our discussions. Deadlines are inviolate: I expect you to hand in assignments on time. Late submissions will be penalized. In return, I promise to be available before and after class, during office hours and by appointment.
[edit] Workload and Grades
Each student will produce a written report of up to 3,000 words on their assigned topic area of the Global War on Terrorism---assessing both the human rights impact and the role of journalists. This will be a hybrid journalistic/academic product, written in the active voice, relaying on your own interviews and reporting as well as on documents and written materials, thoroughly sourced and annotated---something that would feel at home in a very good Sunday Outlook section or a thoughtful magazine. You’ll do an outline, the paper itself and, if you choose, a rewrite. You’ll also give a class presentation of 10 to 15 minutes on your topic area and lead the ensuing discussion. And with the help of ShinJoung Yeo, our information specialist extraordinaire and technical advisor, you will produce a website report as well, with links to sources and documents.
This course has a heavy reading load and I’ll also be asking each of you to help lead discussions of some of the articles. There will be no mid-term or final, but I have a small and devious writing assignment in mind for the halfway mark.
I’ll be evaluating you roughly 50 percent on the process and 50 percent on the final product. In other words, your classroom participation and presentations and your ingenuity and doggedness as a reporter/researcher will count for half your grade, and the final piece you deliver will count for the other half. Revision is a crucial part of the writing and reporting process, and I invite you to take advantage of the opportunity to submit a second draft of your final piece.
[edit] Books to Purchase
These are available at the bookstore or online or found on reserve. I’ve assigned specific chapters from each text:
- Mark Danner. The Massacre at El Mozote, Vintage, 1994.
- Peter Maass. Love Thy Neighbor. Knopf, 1996.
- Samantha Power. “A Problem from Hell.” Harper, 2003.
- John Yoo. War by Other Means. Atlantic Monthly Press, 2006.
We’ll also be reading most of Jane Mayer’s remarkable series of New Yorker articles from the past two years, which you can find at the magazine’s website or which I can email to you, as well as excerpts from other books. Here are some relevant ones:
- Bill Berkeley. The Graves Are Not Yet Full. Basic Books, 2001.
- Mark Danner. Torture and Truth. New York Review Books, 2004.
- William Finnegan. Dateline Soweto. Harper & Row, 1988.
- Glenn Frankel. Rivonia’s Children. Farrar, Strauss, Giroux, 1999.
- Jack Goldsmith. The Terror Presidency. W.W. Norton, 2007.
- Roy Gutman. A Witness to Genocide. MacMillan, 1993.
- Seymour M. Hersh. Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib. Harper Perennial, 2005.
- Alistair Horne. A Savage War of Peace, Algeria 1954-1962. MacMillan, 1977.
- Andrew Meldrum. Where We Have Hope: A Memoir of Zimbabwe. John Murray, 2004.
- Judith Miller. God Has Ninety-Nine Names. Simon & Schuster, 1996.
- Keith B. Richburg. Out of America: A Black Man Confronts Africa. Harcourt, Brace, 1998.
- The 9/11 Commission Report. W.W. Norton.
- Jacobo Timerman. Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number. Vintage, 1982.
- The Torture Papers: The Road to Abu Ghraib. Karen J. Greenberg and Joshua L. Dratel, eds.Cambridge University Press, 2005.
I’ll be handing out excerpts in class or emailing them as we go along. Copies of all of the four main texts, plus Timerman, Greenberg & Dratel, Danner’s Truth and Torture and Hersh are on reserve at Green Library. We’ll add more texts, documents and reports to the list as the quarter continues.
I also suggest you keep up with the Washington Post and New York Times online, and read “Six Degrees, a Stanford Journal of Human Rights,” and the excellent anti-torture website of the Stanford branch of Amnesty International.
There are countless other human rights websites. I’ve attached a short list at the end of this syllabus.
[edit] Classes and Assignments
All of the below is subject to change. I’ll generally be handing out or emailing the readings a week in advance (this first week being an exception). As the quarter progresses, you’ll be increasingly in charge of organizing the sessions. There may be occasional guest speakers or other unscheduled opportunities to hear from journalists and others.
1. Wed., April 4: Introduction
Reading:
Samantha Power, A Problem From Hell, Preface.
[edit] Part One: Case Studies from the Recent Past
2. Mon., April 7: El Salvador: Massacre
Readings:
Jeane Kirkpatrick, Dictators and Double Standards, Commentary, Nov. 1979.
Mark Danner. The Massacre at El Mozote. (Chapters 1, 5-7, Documents, pp. 183-201; 228-233; 256-262; 272-278).
Michael Massing, About-face on El Salvador, Columbia Journalism Review, Nov/Dec 1983.
3. Wed., April 9: South Africa/Zimbabwe: Repression
Readings:
Glenn Frankel, Rivonia’s Children, excerpts from Chapter 5.
William Finnegan. Dateline Soweto, Chapter 12.
A collection of Washington Post articles, including Detainees, Doctor Allege Torture in South Africa (3/23/86), and South Africa Says It Foiled Planned Insurrection (6/17/86).
4. Mon. April 14: Rwanda: Genocide
Readings:
Bill Berkeley, The Graves Are Not Yet Full, Prologue and Introduction.
Power, Chapter 10.
Keith B. Richburg. Out of America. Chapter 5.
Time and Newsweek cover stories, 8/1/94.
5. Wed., April 16: Bosnia: Ethnic Cleansing
Readings:
Peter Maass, Love Thy Neighbor, pp. 3-7, 15-23, 29-35, 36-49, 95-102, 105-132, 153-175. 182-190, 193-9, 209-218, 242-7.
Power, Chapters 9 and 11.
Roy Gutman, A Witness to Genocide, vii-xvi.
6. Mon., April 21: Darfur: Genocide Redux
Reading:
A collection of Washington Post articles by Emily Wax and New York Times columns by Nicholas D. Kristof.
Steve Coll, The Other War, Washington Post Magazine, 1/9/00.
7. Wed., April 23: My Brother’s Keeper?: Holding Journalists Accountable
Readings:
Judith Miller, God Has Ninety-Nine Names, pp. 379-86.
Words & Reflections: Journalists Testifying at War Crimes Tribunals, Nieman Reports, Spring 2003.
Sherry Ricchiardi, Over the Line? AJR, Sept. 1996.
8. Mon., April 28: Israel and Palestine: The Fatal Embrace
Readings:
Frankel, Israel’s Security Service Has Found New Enemy: Itself, WP, 7/2/87.
Barbara Matusow, “Caught in the Crossfire,” AJR, June/July 2004.
Aryeh Neier, “The Attack on Human Rights Watch,” NY Review of Books, 11/2/06.
Greg Myre, “Offering Video, Israel Answers Critics on War,” NYT, 12/5/06.
[edit] Part Two: The New Paradigm
9. Wed., April 30: The Bush Administration
Readings:
John Yoo, War by Other Means, Intro. and Chapters 1-3.
President Discusses Creation of Military Commissions to Try Suspected Terrorists, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/09/print/20060906-3.html
Andrew Apostolou and Frederic Smoler, “The Geneva Convention Is Not a Suicide Pact, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.
Jane Mayer, “The Hidden Power” New Yorker, 7/03/2006.
NOTE: OUTLINES ARE DUE
10. Mon., May 5: History of Modern Torture/Water-Boarding
Readings:
Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, Chapt. 9 (pp. 183-207).
The Battle of Algiers (excerpt).
Charles Krauthammer,The Truth About Torture, Weekly Standard, 12/5/05.
Yoo, Chapter 7.
Mark Bowden, The Dark Art of Interrogation, Atlantic Monthly, Oct. 2003.
Israeli Supreme Court. “Judgment on the Interrogation Methods applied by the GSS,” 9/6/99.
http://www.derechos.org/human-rights/mena/doct/torture.html
Various news articles on water-boarding
11. Wed., May 7: First Steps: Bagram/Guantanamo
Readings:
Eric Umansky, “Failures of Imagination,” CJR, Sept/Oct 2006 pp. 17-22.
Carlotta Gall, “US Military Investigating Death of Afghan in Custody,” NY Times, 3/4/03.
Tim Golden, “In US Report, Brutal Details of 2 Afghan Inmates’ Deaths,” NYT, 5/20/05.
Jane Mayer, “Lost in the Jihad,” New Yorker, 3/10/03.
Yoo, Chapters 6, 8.
Dana Priest and Barton Gellman, “U.S. Decries Abuse but Defends Interrogations,” 12/26/2002.
Adam Zagorin, et al. “Inside the Interrogation of Detainee 063,” Time, 6/20/05.
12. Mon. May 12: Guantanamo(continued)/Extraordinary Rendition
Readings:
Jane Mayer, “The Experiment,” New Yorker, 7/11/2005
Scott Higham, Josh White and Chris Davenport, “A Prison on the Brink,” 5/9/04.
Carol J. Williams, “Kicked Out of Gitmo” LA Times, 6/18/06.
Corine Hegland, “Guantanamo’s Grip,” National Journal, 2/3/06.
Karen J. Greenberg, “11 Ways to Report on Gitmo,” Nieman watchdog, 3/13/07.
Mayer, “Outsourcing Torture,” New Yorker, 2/14/2005.
Priest, “CIA’s Assurances on Transferred Suspects Doubted,” WP, 3/17/2005.
Priest, “Knew About Plan to Grab Suspect,” WP, 6/30/2005.
Priest, “CIA Holds Terror Suspects in Secret Prisons,” WP, 11/2/2005.
Priest, “Wrongful Imprisonment: Anatomy of a CIA Mistake,” WP, 12/4/2005.
13. Wed. May 14: Abu Ghraib: A Turning Point
Readings:
Seymour Hersh, Chain of Command, Intro and pp. 1-72.
Mayer, “A Deadly Interrogation,” New Yorker, 11/14/2005.
Danner, “The Logic of Torture,” NY Review of Books, 5/27/04.
Danner, “The Secret Road to Abu Ghraib,” NYRB, 10/7/04.
Umansky, “Failures of Imagination,” pp. 22-31.
Jack Goldsmith. The Terror Presidency. Chapt. 5.
14.Mon., May 19: The Debate at Home and Abroad
Readings:
Mayer, “Whatever It Takes,” New Yorker, 2/19/07.
24 excerpt.
“Impact of Extraordinary Rendition on Transatlantic Relations,” congressional testimony of Michael F. Scheuer, 4/17/07.
Robert G. Kaiser, “Public Secrets,” WP, 6/11/06.
15.Wed., May 21: Haditha/Cast of Characters
Readings:
Tim McGirk, “One Morning in Haditha,” Time Magazine, 3/27/06.
Michael Duffy, et al, “The Shame of Kilo Company,” 5/28/06.
Michael Duffy, “The Ghosts of Haditha,” 6/12/06.
Lori Robertson, “A Matter of Time,” AJR, June/July 2006.
Sherry Ricchiardi, “Out of Reach,” AJR, April/May 2006.
Seymour M. hersh, “The General’s Report,” New Yorker, 6/25/07.
NOTE: FIRST DRAFTS ARE DUE.
Mon., May 26: Memorial Day Holiday
16. Wed., May 28: Congressional Undersight/Presidential Campaign
Readings:
Charlie Savage, “Bush could bypass new torture ban,” Boston Globe, 1/4/06.
“Interview with Charlie Savage,” Salon.com, 4/26/07.
More readings to come
17. Mon., June 2: CIA/Courts
Readings:
Mayer, “The Black Sites,” New Yorker, 8/13/07.
Scott Shane and Mark Mazzetti, “Interrogation Methods Are Criticized,” NYT 5/30/07.
Dan Eggen and Walter Pincus, “FBI, CIA Debate Significance of Terror Suspect,” WP, 12/18/07.
18. Wed., June 4: 2008 Update/Summary
Readings:
Yoo, Epilogue.
Zbigniew Brzezinski, “Terrorized by ‘War on Terror’,” WP, 3/25/07.
Charles Swift, “The American Way of Justice,” Esquire, 3/07.
FRI. JUNE 6, NOON: FINAL DRAFTS ARE DUE
