KENNEDY LIBRARY FORUMS “WHAT’S HAPPENED TO THE NEWS MEDIA?” MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2005 PAGE 1 JOHN SHATTUCK: Good evening. I’m John Shattuck, the CEO of the Kennedy Library Foundation, and on behalf of myself and Deborah Leff, the Director of the Library who’s here with us in the front row, I want to welcome you all to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. I’m here to set the stage for this evening’s very fascinating forum, “What’s Happening to the News Media?” First, I’d like to offer our thanks to the institutions that make these forums possible. I want to especially acknowledge the Bank of America, the lead sponsor of the Kennedy Library Forums series. We’re also very grateful to our other forum sponsors: Boston Capital, the Lowell Institute, and the Corcoran Jennison Companies, as well as our media sponsors, the Boston Globe, Boston.com, and WBUR-FM, which broadcasts all of our forums, certainly including this one, on Sunday evenings. I think the best way to introduce this evening’s forum is to turn the clock back for a moment, and look at the news media 40 years ago through the eyes of a very special observer: not surprisingly, since you’re in his library, President Kennedy. In some ways, things haven’t changed much. But in other, perhaps fundamental, ways, what the President describes in a White House press conference on December 17, 1962, is hardly recognizable today. Let’s go right to the transcript: KENNEDY LIBRARY FORUMS “WHAT’S HAPPENED TO THE NEWS MEDIA?” MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2005 PAGE 2 Question: “Mr. President, perhaps you would comment for us on the press in general, as you see it from the Presidency.” The President: “Well, I’m reading more and enjoying it less. [laughter] But I would say that it is an invaluable arm of our democracy--a check, really, on what is going on in the administration--and through the press, more things come to my attention that cause me concern or give me information.” Now, at this point, President Kennedy comments on the value of a press, free press, in penetrating something that we all know well these days, and that is secrecy. He says, then, quote: “So I would think, then, that Mr. Khrushchev, operating in a totalitarian system which is able to move in secret, has the disadvantage of not having the abrasive quality of the press applied to him daily. Even though we never like it, even though we wish they didn’t write it, and even though we disapprove, “There isn’t any doubt, President Kennedy said, “that we could not do the job at all in a free society without a very, very active press.” But then, the President looks at the other side of the coin and points to the responsibility of the press in a democratic society: to report accurately, as he sees it, and without bias, and here’s what he says, also in this press conference on December 17. He says, KENNEDY LIBRARY FORUMS “WHAT’S HAPPENED TO THE NEWS MEDIA?” MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2005 PAGE 3 “On the other hand, the press has the responsibility not to distort things for political purposes, not to just select some news in order to prove a political point. It seems to me their obligation is to be as tough as they can on the administration, but do it in a way that is directed toward getting as close to the truth as they can, and not merely because of some political motivation.” Well, as we often find here at the Kennedy Library, a good starting point for our Forums are the words of President Kennedy. And I must say, in this particular case, a starting point about the media today, and how the media looks at, and how the media looks from, the world of political power, whether it’s the perspective of the White House, or the Washington power brokers, or the world beyond the Beltway in Washington. I think the words of President Kennedy are a very good starting place. So what has happened to the news media today? From broadcasters like Walter Cronkite, who was here on this stage just ten days ago, to bloggers like Garrett Graff, who’s here with us tonight, there certainly have been a lot of changes. And our distinguished panel is here to explore these with us, and you will hear from them very shortly. Let me introduce each of them to you in turn. John Seigenthaler, on my immediate left here, is a legendary figure in American journalism. A longtime editor and, later, publisher of The Tennessean, Nashville’s morning newspaper, he received many awards. He was later the Founding Editorial Director of USA Today and the President of the American Society of KENNEDY LIBRARY FORUMS “WHAT’S HAPPENED TO THE NEWS MEDIA?” MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2005 PAGE 4 Newspaper Editors. In 1991, he founded the First Amendment Center with the mission of promoting, quote, “a national dialogue and debate about press freedoms and responsibilities.” Later, he founded the Freedom Forum, a non-partisan foundation dedicated to free press, free speech, and free spirit. In the 1960s, John left journalism briefly to serve as Administrative Assistant to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, and he was the Attorney General’s Chief Negotiator during the Freedom Rides with the Governor of Alabama--certainly, a challenging task. And at one point during that period, he was attacked by a mob of Klansmen while he was attempting to aid Freedom Riders in Montgomery, Alabama. Certainly, a profile in courage, and here at the Kennedy Library, we’re very honored to have John Seigenthaler as the Chair of our Profile in Courage Award Committee. Ellen Hume, sitting next to John, is the Founding Director of the Center on Media and Society at the University of Massachusetts in Boston, just down on the other end of Columbia Point. An experienced journalist, teacher, and television commentator, she was the White House Wall Street Journal correspondent, a regular panelist on the television program “Washington Week in Review,” and Executive Director of the Shorenstein Center on Press, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard. She has also directed PBS’s Democracy Project, which has developed special television programs to encourage citizen participation in public affairs. And her 1995 report, “Tabloids, Talk Radio, and the Future of News” won the Lowell Mellet KENNEDY LIBRARY FORUMS “WHAT’S HAPPENED TO THE NEWS MEDIA?” MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2005 PAGE 5 Award for Improving Journalism through Critical Evaluation. And, last but not least, in the interest of full disclosure, I will say that I am honored to appear on the stage and off the stage as her husband. [laughter] Garrett Graff is the Founding Editor of Fishbowl DC-- www.fishbowldc.com--a blog that covers media and journalism in Washington. He’s also Editor-at-Large of Washingtonian Magazine and was formerly Vice President of Communications at Echo Ditto Inc., a DC-based Internet strategy firm. During the 2004 presidential campaign, Garrett served as Deputy National Press Secretary to Howard Dean, and was Dean’s first webmaster when he was serving as Governor of Vermont, and when Garrett was in high school. Garrett got his start in the media as a news writer and Executive Editor at the Harvard Crimson, and he held internships at ABC News and the Atlantic Monthly. Earlier this year, he made a special splash in Washington when he became the first ever blogger to be admitted to cover a White House press briefing. Our moderator tonight, seated all the way on the far right from your point of view, is Callie Crossley, a seasoned broadcast professional who’s done extensive commentary and media criticism, as well as produced and directed television and film. Callie is a regular panelist on WGBH’s “Meet the Press,” and a frequent commentator on CNN and National Public Radio. A former Neiman Fellow at Harvard, she spent 13 years as a network KENNEDY LIBRARY FORUMS “WHAT’S HAPPENED TO THE NEWS MEDIA?” MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2005 PAGE 6 television producer for ABC News’s “20/20,” and she’s received numerous awards, including an Emmy, an Edward R. Murrow Award, and an award from America Women in Television. So please join me in welcoming to the stage of the Kennedy Library John Seigenthaler, Ellen Hume, Garrett Graff, and Callie Crossley. [applause] CALLIE CROSSLEY: Good evening. I’m glad to see everybody here, and I think we’re in for a vigorous discussion. I know all of these people up here, even slightly--even Garrett, slightly--so this is really going to be a conversation for a time, and then there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions. So as we’re going along, be thinking about what kind of question you’d like to ask, not what kind of comment you’d like to make. [laughter] And because this is such a distinguished panel--and as we go along in the conversation, I’ll have an opportunity to let you know some of the other work that they’re doing, which also impacts this discussion--I thought I’d like to begin, because I think people have in their minds what certain entities are, what certain concepts are, but we don’t really share them, so as we begin the discussion, then we’re often not on the same page. So let’s start very simply, and have each of you, if you would, tell me what is news to you; and, because the question “What’s happened to the news?” seems to suggest something bad has happened, what do you think the central bad thing is? Anyone? KENNEDY LIBRARY FORUMS “WHAT’S HAPPENED TO THE NEWS MEDIA?” MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2005 PAGE 7 [laughter] ELLEN HUME: John, go ahead.