Finding the truth amid a rainbow of assertions

Denver Post investigative reporter Miles Moffeit first experienced the power of the press while writing evocative editorials and columns for the Daily O'Collegian in the mid-1980s.

Within the living laboratory of the O'Colly, he found his niche experimenting with the complexities and responsibilities of the First Amendment right to a free press.

Since then Moffeit has received numerous awards for his investigative stories, which have appeared in more than 50 newspapers and magazines. Last spring he returned to OSU to discuss "Justice Through Journalism" as the featured speaker of the 2005 Paul Miller Lecture Series.

Moffeit, a news/editorial major from 1982-87, says he has mixed feelings about his college writings.

"Though I did some good work, such as examining how badly the Stillwater jails handled a string of suicides, I wrote too many opinions for the editorial page that were based on thin research or were simply knee-jerk reactions to an issue," he says.

One of his favorite instructors, Michael Bugeja, once stomped downstairs from his office in the Paul Miller Journalism Building and plastered a page of a Russian-language newspaper to the O'Colly bulletin board. "His point was that my piece that day was so awful that I might as well have been writing in another language," Moffeit says.

"I wanted to expose problems I considered outrageous, but with time I've learned that soap-box rants do little good," he says.

"It's a much better use of my time and readers' time to thoroughly investigate an issue, sometimes for months, and then let them know what I've found," says the former Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Dallas Times-Herald reporter. "That's public service."

Moffeit's articles on social justice and corruption have led to government reform and criminal prosecutions.

In 2001, his Star-Telegram series on Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport's mishandling of industrial waste helped trigger public expenditures of more than $20 million in pollution controls to protect public waters. His 2002 series on school construction unearthed fraud in Fort Worth school district management practices that led to federal charges against a school administrator and two contractors.

In 2003, his three-part series "Betrayal in the Ranks" for the Denver Post exposed how the U.S. military fails victims of sexual and domestic violence. The series, nominated by the Post for the Pulitzer in investigative journalism, helped bring a murder suspect to trial and prompted Congress to pass a series of legislative reforms dealing with sexual assault cases. In 2004, Moffeit's coverage of prisoner abuse in Iraq triggered changes in how the military investigates deaths of detainees.

"There's no better feeling than to help achieve some semblance of justice through journalism, whether it's helping correct an environmental problem or helping bring a killer to trial -- and a sense of closure to the victim's family -- as we did through our ‘Betrayal in the Ranks' series," he says.

"The free press is the great leveler of society's playing field. Reporters' questions, unfettered by bonds to government, can give voice to the voiceless while holding government accountable.

"The best press is a watchdog for the underdog."

Tough Choices

Sometimes reporting the truth comes with a price, especially when reporters agree to protect their sources with anonymity.

"I routinely promise confidentiality to sources and can't do my job without granting identity protection to people -- people who sometimes never make it into my stories and people who sometimes are vital to publication," he says.

Moffeit was subpoenaed by the military this year for refusing to turn over notes of his interviews with a rape victim. The subpoena was ultimately dropped. Moffeit would like to see Congress adopt protective legislation for reporters and their anonymous sources to acknowledge their role in bringing about justice.

"Another lesson I've learned over the years is that truth resides in multiple shades of gray," he says. "It's never black and white.

"When I was in college, I wrote some reckless commentary. Now I know that great journalism is the result of a painful process involving examining and re-examining your thesis while seeking others to act as a prosecutor of your work," he says. "The final product, if this all unfolds, will be a pretty fair stab at the truth."

Moffeit credits Bugeja and long-time O'Colly adviser Jack Lancaster with mentoring him at OSU. "Jack taught me to be methodical and compassionate through reporting, while Bugeja pushed my writing and curiosity to a greater level. I still talk with both of them regularly."

Besides working full-time for the Denver Post, Moffeit is the senior Dart Center Ochberg Fellow through the University of Washington, studying the psychological effects of trauma on victims and the journalists who witness and report it.

"Through this program, I'm constantly learning new ways to take more sensitive and proper approaches to covering victims of violence and, hopefully, I'm helping other journalists become more compassionate and ethical reporters," he says.

Moffeit says building relationships with the courageous people at the center of his stories gives him personal satisfaction, but being a catalyst for change is even more satisfying.

"The impact of a story is what it's all about for me," Moffeit says. "If I write a story that barely registers a whisper, it's very depressing.

"I try to tell myself that raising awareness about a problem is important. But the projects that result in governmental actions or reform give me a special feeling that is rather difficult to describe. It's the knowledge you've done a good deed, and it's incredibly empowering."

Janet Varnum