Historians/History

Mr. Gergen's Interview with Mr. Ambrose

by Joe Balkoski

Mr. Balkoski is the author of Beyond the Beachhead.

Last week David Gergen interviewed Stephen Ambrose on the PBS show,"The Newshour." It has attracted a lot of criticism. Several critics wrote PBS to complain. Mr. Balkoski's letter appears below.

Dear NewsHour:

I feel very sad that NewsHour, a program of heretofore unimpeachable standards, has deemed it necessary to air the David Gergen interview with Stephen Ambrose on Tuesday July 30. To me, this interview was appalling and disgraceful. For a news program that prides itself on telling both sides of a story, the Gergen - Ambrose interview clearly was intended to throw Ambrose"a softball" to ease the pain and embarassment of his recent plagiarism scandal. This was not"news." Rather, the contrast with the standard investigative reporting and balanced debates normally featured on the show was astonishing. It appears that politicians are routinely asked hard questions about debatable behavior; celebrities are not. Ambrose broke laws: if you doubt this, examine US Copyright infringement laws and read any reputable media story on the plagiarism scandal to determine exactly what, in the end, Ambrose did. Indeed, please examine the URL link for your own sister-organization, National Public Radio, when it examined the Ambrose story in detail in January. The facts were straightforward, and Ambrose did not emerge as the heroic figure he did on NewsHour. Here is the URL:

http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/atc/20020110.atc.07.ram

The facts are clear that Dr. Ambrose plagiarized others' work. Most sadly of all, plagiarism hurts people, as it has hurt me. I am the author of one of the books from which Dr. Ambrose"inappropriately copied" (in the gentle phraseology of the New York Times). As Casey Stengel used to say:"You can look it up." My book was"Beyond the Beachhead: The 29th Infantry Division in Normandy." His book was"Citizen-Soldiers." For specific references to the copied passages, please check the Forbes.com website archives employing a search for:"Ambrose, Plagiarism."

I find it shocking that Doris Kearns Goodwin was unceremoniously removed from NewsHour as a commentator, but Dr. Ambrose, whose unethical behavior far exceeded that of Ms. Goodwin, was offered the opportunity of defending his indefensible behavior with no dissenting point of view allowed. I ask you to examine the tape again of the Gergen - Ambrose interview and ask yourself the hard question: Is this the quality of news we expect to offer the public on NewsHour? For me, the answer is clear: it is not. There is little that I can do beyond writing this letter of protest, but rest assured that for the foreseeable future, I, my family, my outraged neighbors here in Baltimore, my WWII veteran friends, and my fellow authors who have been victims of plagiarism will no longer be viewing NewsHour.

I repeat the first sentence of this e-mail: I find this sad.