GW professor Stephen Hess discussed his newest book, “Through Their Eyes: Foreign Correspondents in the United States,” with a packed crowd at the Politics and Prose bookstore on Connecticut Avenue Saturday.
Students and professionals turned out to hear Hess explain his belief that foreign correspondents are playing an increasingly important role in the way the world views the United States. The book is the sixth in his series called “Newswork,” which examines the relationships between government and the media.
At the book signing, Hess related many of his experiences and contacts inside the world of politics and press. He also spoke of ideas that appear throughout the book, including the importance of the “CNN effect,” or how 24-hour news coverage has changed both government action and public opinion, as well as the attitudes foreign correspondents have about America.
“There is really only a small amount of foreign correspondents introducing their own countries’ prejudices in topics such as obesity in America and the death penalty in their writings,” Hess said. He added that the longer a journalist has lived in the United States, the more favorably he looks at America.
For the book, Hess compiled surveys from numerous foreign correspondents covering the United States for their home countries.
“It was marvelous (for me) to go around the world and discover how foreign correspondents cover the world,” he said.
Hess teaches a class at GW called “Washington Reporters,” in which he brings journalists and press secretaries to class to discuss their experiences. Past speakers include CNN’s Judy Woodruff, CBS’ Bob Schieffer and former President Bill Clinton’s press secretary Mike McCurry. His students spend the semester conducting interviews with Washington journalists to be used in an update to his 1981 book “Washington Reporters.”
“To me, teaching is all about the students,” Hess said. “Being that the students are here at GW, and in the (School of Media and Public Affairs), makes them very interesting to me.”
The compilations of the interviews will be included in Hess’ new version of book, along with all of the students’ names. The update will be his 18th book.
Many of his other works focus on a lighter side of the government, such as a history of political cartoons and campaign etiquette.
For Hess, teaching has come after a long list of other professional roles. A distinguished research professor of media and public affairs, he came to GW in September 2004 after working for the government, writing books and researching the relationships that exist between the media and government.
“I came to the field when there wasn’t a field,” Hess said.
Hess first entered the world of Washington reporting in the 1950s.
“Fred Friendly (of CBS News), who didn’t quite look like George Clooney, gave me a push, and $9,900 dollars, to investigate reporters in Washington,” Hess said. Clooney played Friendly in the 2005 movie “Good Night and Good Luck.”
After graduating from Johns Hopkins University in 1953, Hess found his way to the government. He began as the No. 2 speechwriter for President Dwight Eisenhower and worked for him from 1958 until 1961.
Hess came back to government in 1969 when Richard Nixon was elected president; he became the deputy assistant to the president for urban affairs.
In 1972, Hess went to the Brookings Institute to report and conduct research on the presidency. Since 2004, he has served as the senior fellow emeritus in governance studies at the institute.
He then received a number of appointments from President Gerald Ford in 1976 and became the editor in chief of his presidential platform.
When Jimmy Carter was elected president, he specifically used Hess’s book, “Organizing his Presidency,” written in 1976, as a guide while also utilizing him as a presidential adviser, Hess said.
After that, Hess spent a year at the press offices of the Food and Drug Administration, Department of Transportation, the Pentagon and the State Department looking at how government offices work with reporters.
The biggest change Hess has noted in his experiences is the effects of new technology on the media.
“Technologically, I have seen changes with broadcast television, cable and now the growth of the Internet,” Hess said. “I have watched journalists perform in the changing mediums.”
