In his lecture, entitled "Internal Affairs: A Report from the Frontlines of the Battle Over Accuracy and Ethics in the Media," Steinberg addressed several instances of recent journalistic fraud.
Not long after Steinberg took on the media beat at the Times, the Jayson Blair scandal was exposed, forcing Steinberg to report on the journalistic fraud committed by his Times colleague. Investigations discovered that Blair had plagiarized or fabricated at least 36 articles over the course of six months, Steinberg said.
The fact that Blair was able to smuggle so many falsehoods into the Times brought the broader issue of ethics in journalism to the forefront.
"Much of what we do is based on an almost unspoken compact of trust between reporter and editor and also between newspaper and consumer," Steinberg said. "I can tell you with confidence that the compact is revered and cherished by nearly everyone I have ever worked with."
While these relationships are ultimately governed by few written rules, Steinberg said there are numerous holes in these policies, which are only exacerbated by the unrelenting deadline pressure put on reporters. In the months after the Times reported the extent of Blair's transgressions, at least 10 other newspapers confirmed instances of plagiarism or fabrication, including several stories by Jack Kelley, a longtime USA Today reporter.
"It was impossible ... to know whether this outbreak of journalistic wrongdoing was a sign of reporters running amok in a world where vast electronic databases are just a mouse click away or had just come to light because of greater vigilance," Steinberg said.
In an environment of growing skepticism of the media, newsrooms across the country have implemented stricter safeguards to ensure that lies and fabrications are intercepted before they ever get to print. While Steinberg said he hopes these guidelines would make readers more confident in the news they read, he said that the new checks and balances can only go so far.
"Journalism is still much more art than science and it will always be an enterprise that relies on the skills and internal compasses of human beings with all their imperfections," Steinberg said.
In the dinner discussion that followed the lecture, students raised their concerns about the media. Students and Steinberg addressed a number of issues, including the balance between conveying hard news and boosting poor circulation rates.
In reporting on his colleagues and bosses at the Times during the Jayson Blair scandal, Steinberg said he drew on his experiences of writing on a college campus and experiencing the immediacy of facing his readers everyday.
"What you're doing at The D is really what we do at the New York Times every day," Steinberg said, comparing his time on The Dartmouth staff as an equivalent to apprentice training for his job.
Steinberg, who has been a staff writer for the New York Times since the early 1990s, has for the last three years covered media issues for the newspaper, writing about the newspaper industry itself and television media.
He has also spent extensive time writing about education. In 2002 Steinberg published a book, "The Gatekeepers: Inside the Admissions Process of a Premier College," about his time spent observing admissions officers at Wesleyan University.
Steinberg was brought to campus as part of an effort by the Undergraduate Judicial Affairs office to educate students about ethics, integrity and the honor principle by showing them how these issues apply to the real world.
"We thought that if we brought an alum to campus who has dealt with ethics and integrity in their job, it might get students more interested in the topic," Judicial Affairs intern Ali Levine '07 said.
The event was planned by the Undergraduate Judicial Affairs Office and co-sponsored by the Ethics Institute, Rockefeller Center, Student Activities Office and a number of Greek organizations.
