APCOM

Journalism as a service for the reader. This is Langeweische vision of the work of reporters. William Langewiesche, American journalist famous for his controversial investigation on September 11th and on the war in Iraq refuses to be defined as the "conscience of America". Langewiesche, who intervened at a seminary at the Holden School, told us that when he writes his reports "I simply wanted to serve, in some way, my reader's eyes in the most honest, clear and direct way possible ." And after a short pause, the statement: "I'm not a polemist."

His books however raised many polemics, mostly with his "American Ground". The latter is a recount written in first person of the rubble of the World Trade Center in which Langewiesche showed the other side of the story, where in the place of heroism one would see plundering and cruelty, where instead of courage, it was the visibility the media obtained that counted. "There was plundering by both firefighters and policemen - said the reporter - because there was war and in war the rules don't count. It was a battleground where the borders merged. But Ground Zero, was also, right after the attack, the heart of the world, and the heart of media attraction and global emotion."

"When I wrote these kind of things, the journalist said, I knew that I would go against the politicians' feelings. But everything was verified down to the smallest detail. I had chosen a non emotional approach. I expected some criticism, but what choice did I have? One has to be honest". Honest also seems to be, at least from his point of view the opinion of those who hypothesize an American plot behind the Twin Tower attack.: "This theory, he said, is totally false, the plot is an unrealistic romance. The journalist's honesty, is one of the points that Langewiesche insists on the most. "My work he said, is to be at the reader's service to help them grasp the complexities of the world, in contrast to the stupidest decisions by the American government, such as war the in Iraq."

With a report on the battlefield, Langewiessche reconstructed the horror of the Hadita massacre and uncovered the purpose of the American army in Iraq; practically allowing indiscriminate killing of civilians. Despite his direct experience, however, the journalist doesn't take sides on the possible developments of the war. "I am not in contact enough with those who are there to be able to talk with direct knowledge, but I am sure that whatever the current perception, the story of the war in Iraq is not at all over, and maybe we are simply only seeing the beginning".

Langewiesche does not believe in immediate withdrawal of the troops and underlines "that over a long period the situation would still remain very serious and dangerous and seeing as the United States is at the origin of the problem, in any case it will be an American problem". "If there is something," he added "the world should worry about, that is the withdrawal of the American troops which would allow the United States to continue to be seen by the rest of the world in such a disappointing way, as to lead to other mistakes . However I am not sure that the best solution for the world over a long period is the same as the one that today appears as the least painful for America.

Langewiesche writings, published in Italy by Adelphi, are significant examples of narration with fiction, which however maintain high literary standards. "The non fiction," the writer told us, today has expanded and freed itself, and allows the application of literary concerns even on traditional themes which were previously discussed only by journalism. If I apply literary standards, Langewiesche added, to a journalistically traditional theme, maybe 80% of the readers will read it without realizing this and only 20% of the readers will have grasped it". Langewiesche reflects on the sense of literary reports given today's Internet and information in real time. "It's easier for us", he explained, "because a longer time span requires discipline which allows one to find arguments which can last, without having to continuously look for ideas". The reporter underlines the difference between his work as compared for example to a newspaper or television writer's: I do not want to say that they have less of an understanding of the facts, but simply that media narrows the space."

Then he goes on to explain what he defines as "a more critical note": "The hunt for news is not productive for long term thinking. If you continue to do it for years, journalists begin to see it in those terms and in the end it becomes very difficult to break away from this mental perspective". Langewiesche has a clever response for those who like his colleague David Randall underline how "world catastrophes are the stage of a journalist's performance; "There's a song by the Garbage which is called 'I am happy only when it rains'. In reality this is the typical criticism that one makes of journalism, but it is an unfair criticism for two reasons. First of all because most of the time journalism is about days or moments without rain. And then because, even if we don't like it history moves around moments of pain: wars, revolutions, storms and scandals. These are important moments, much more important than the daily routine".

William Langewiesche, who held a four day conference on "the meaning of narration as an instrument to create a contemporary report" was compared to the great Polish correspondent Ryszard Kapuscinski. "I know him, he said and I also know he did a great job. But I do not compare myself to him and I don't think of him when I write, I only try to do my job". There are no models for Langewiesche and not "even an idea to follow". But he certainly has something in common with Kapuscinski, the journalist who went around the world by foot to see the world at the same speed as the poor, it speaks of the present and the approach towards other people. "I like people, Langewiesche admitted, I believe in decency and human dignity. I do not know how one could do this job without having empathy with other people.