Music that of this month, watch coverage of the conventions and every saturday night at 8 00 eastern we will look back at past conventions. This saturday, we will focus on income presidency who ran for reelection. President s who ran for reelection. Nixon at the 1972 convention in miami beach, the 1980 Democratic Convention with united city,in the george h. W. Bush at the 1992 Republican Convention in houston, bill clinton and chicago for the 1996 Democratic Convention, anthony 2004 Republican Convention in the city of new york with george w. Bush. Saturday night at 8 00 eastern on cspan. In his weekly address, president obama talked about celebrating Independence Day and honoring Service Members and veterans. Newlso discusses a initiative that would make it easier for military spouses to work in any state. Gowdy andtives trey Lynn Westmoreland deliver the republican address. They discuss the benghazi investigation and its final report. President obama hi, everybody. Happy fourth of july weekend. Theonday, we will celebrate fourth of july like most of you, in the backyard. We will hang out with friends, and watch the fireworks show. We are fortunate enough to have the south lawn as our backyard so we will fill it with hundreds of our troops, veterans, and families. For the past years that has become one of my favorite traditions by celebrating our freedoms and honoring those who sacrificed to make that freedom possible. Our serviceing members, veterans, and families is something americans try to do every day without fanfare or expectation of anything in return. For the past five years michelle and dr. Joe biden have tried to follow the example with their joining forces initiative. Rallying forces. Helping reduce veteran homelessness. Just this week, michelle and something about military spouses. That is the issue of professional licensing. Americans arent familiar with but for most American Military families it is a problem as troops are transferred from based to base. Because families serve with them, the spouses move 10 times more often than most of us. 10 times more often is tough on a career. And more the end what men and three of these buses works in a profession that requires a professional license or certification. Nurses, child care providers, accountants, social workers, and other jobs. Until recently, when they were lines,o move across the they needed to recertify for a job they are already qualified for. Experienceith a might have to take entrylevel courses or pay a fee or wait months for paperwork to be processed before they could get back to work on the job they love that helps them support their families. That does not make any sense. So we changed it. When michelle and jill took up this cause only three years ago, only three states had taken action. They rallied state legislators into action. A milestone. Today, all 50 states have acted to streamline these issues. It is a big step forward but we are not done yet. We will keep working to make licensing simpler for more jobs and reach more qualified workers. So we can finally say to our military families, when you move you will no longer be forced to put the career you love on hold just because you and your family have chosen to serve your family. This is what this is about. And women inen and uniform as much as if served us. Take a look at joining forces. Gov to find out how you can serve the troops in your community. To all of our brave men and women in uniform, you represent the best of who we are as a nation. On this day and every day, we thank you. Have a great fourth of july, everybody. Today as we prepared to celebrate the fourth of july we can take heart in the fact that have helpedd women with the independence for our nation. The same spirit was on display in libya. Brave men and women serving at one of our highest foreign outposts and one of americas leastsecure diplomatic facilities had to rely on their own ingenuity and determination in on one another to survive. The select committee on benghazi sought from the beginning to tell their story providing me final, definitive accounting of that fateful night for the families and american people. As a result of this investigation, we now know that no American Forces were ever going to benghazi the night of the attack and the small group from tripoli did that did go, initiative. Eir own because of the investigations, we now know the full story that made itpersonnel that from tripoli to benghazi and faced all of those, including the fateful mortar attack. Now we know if not for the extraordinary efforts of a cia security coordinator, we wouldve lost two more americans that night. Is real story of benghazi truly detail of two cities. And benghazi, where people were valiantly fighting for their lives, and washington dc where Administration Officials sent on a teleconference and talked for two hours. Meanwhile, forces ready to respond were first to rate on the transport and to change into fourut of it uniform times. The end result of this previously unknown teleconference was a list of action items, half of which had to do with an online video. Telling that to instead of a single focus of way,ing people in harms key administrators were arguing about a video and the appearance. F our people with determination, relevant documents, and talking to new witnesses, the select committee tee is now able to tell you, the american people, about these important new facts that fundamentally change what we know about benghazi. Because we want to do Everything Possible to ensure this ever happened again and if it does that we are better prepared to respond, the majority makes a series of recommendations for the pentagon, state department, intelligence community, and congress. On behalf of a grateful nation, by thosethe services who served in benghazi. On this Independence Day weekend, we recognize them as true american heroes and patriots and we thank them and we think their loved ones. May god bless our citizens and may god bless the United States of america. Cspans washington journal, live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. , talks about the latest developments in the president ial election campaign. And the executive are at fund for peace on the report at the most atrisk and stable states around the world. Be sure to watch beginning live at 7 00 a. M. Sunday. 20 discussion. I never felt the urge to make money. What turned me on was to make policy. That is what drove me. An announcer sunday night on q a, a twopart interview with mark green. Author of right, infinite memoir. Generational he talks about his life and public office. You have to have a drive. It makes you undesirable in a spouse and friend. You have to wake up and go to soep and can, i want this much. Win. U do everything, you except lyndon johnson. Announcer airs sunday night on cspans q a. And part two will air on cspan2. Next, a look at how the presidency is covered by the media in todays digital age. This discussion includes journalists, editors, and a spokesperson from Hillary Clintons 2008 campaign. From the george w. Bush president ial center in dallas, this is one hour. [applause] thank you. Welcome, everybody. It is a privilege to be here representing the Dallas Morning News and introduce the first dannel. I will introduce them as they come on to the stage. Is a veteran of four president ial campaigns, as seniorserving spokesman for the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2008. Olivia knox is the chief washington correspondent for yahoo news where he is covered the white house, politics, and since 2012. Press was the adjunct to for 15 years. Senior adviser for external affairs comic Kevin Sullivan leads communication and marketing through all areas of the bush center. He was appointed by george w. Bush as assistant to the president for communications in 2006 and oversaw messaging development and communication planning. Since two thousand two, Kathleen Carroll has been the executive director and Senior Vice President of the associated press, the Worlds Largest independent news agency. They have won numerous awards during her tenure, including this years Pulitzer Prize for service. Overall, for a little prizes and george polk awards. She is a texas native and we like to point that out when we are here. Our moderator is marty. Of thecutive editor Washington Post since 2013. Marty has been part of 10 Pulitzer Prizes during his time at the post. The boston globe, the New York Times, the los angeles times, and the miami herald but he may be best known for his uncanny interpretation impression of the actor lee schreiber. I hope you and join the panel. Thank you. Thank you, michael. Thank you all for coming. The panel for participating. The title of this panel is the presidency coverage in the digital age. What i want to do is start with the question of what is fundamentally different about covering the resident in the digital age. Olivia, maybe you can kick it off. Sure. When i started covering the white house, everything was on paper. We would get a statement on paper. We would get announcements on paper. The Wire Services had to move quickly but Everything Else had a more leisurely days. As the white house embraced email and under this president , embraced social media, announcements have come from a variety of sources. Is constantly on deadline. That is one of the biggest changes of the last 15 years or says. Did it change qualitatively . Olivier a little bit. One of the changes as that we are now trying to reach audiences that are consuming the information from a variety of sources and platforms. We are competing for these guys in a way that we were not when i started the job. For Wire Services, this has not changed all that month because we are constantly on deadline. But now, everyone is. One thing we have learned is newsexpectations of the product are different. The example i would give is in an oldschool video, you could build suspense and introduce characters. With the digital age, if the from ae is about falling trampoline, you need to show the bear falling out of the tree into the traveling within the first 15 seconds of the video or people will turn it out. That has made a difference. Everyone is looking for the magic wand that will turn every story into gold. We experiment with shorter stores and longer stories and more graphics and fewer graphics. I do not know that we have settled on a solution formula for making it work. Kathleen, if new services are becoming more like Wire Services, has nothing changed for the Wire Services . Things have changed a little bit in the way olivier described. Everything is faster, particularly residential campaigns and white house announcements. The need to get allens and context and some other way to think about the story at the same time youre reporting on what is happening is greater than ever and that taxes and organization unless you make it a group effort. You cant just put them by themselves, they have to rack up. Implication is that if the story is going to be more toplete, and set of having do it even a couple hours for the ap. I think the biggest change is the one we have all talked about a lot and that is that the story covers itself. Host what you mean by that . Of flame we have a competitor in the white house that use social media effectively to release pictures shot by the official white house photographer and talk about things am doing and completely skip over the press, which sounds whiny and i dont mean for it to, whiny . Hy is it or why is it not whiny . Why should we be concerned . Kathleen more and more, this president withdraws the Public Service behind closed doors. We are not whining because we are not in the residence watching him for his socks on but we want to be able to ask questions on behalf of the public. Shut off from that and instead what you get is a shiny, polished, adept view at an administration that is filtered by people whose job it is to promote that administration. And i think it is dangerous for the republic. Marty mo and sully, you have seen this from the other end. Does that sound like whining . Does that concern you at all . Or is that just what a president does and what a president should do . I would say empowerment is the biggest change, whether it be our teenage kids, can be like an International Journalist because of the power of what is in your hand in your smartphone. In terms of when you work with communications to the white house your job is to get the message out in the most persuasive and memorable way you can to extend the reach as far as you can. Now, our attitude with the team at the white house working for president bush was, it was sort of like going to the restaurant and you order from each column. There would be an event, maybe a speech, a meeting with local Business Leaders or community leaders. We would always ask the president to allow one reporter to sit in the meeting. It was the energy at the wall street journal with john, writing about energy during that cycle, let us allow john to sit in. Even though we did not have twitter yet, we had a major web operation, even then. You can get the right audience. You do not get the whole picture if you only did it yourself. And i think that is still today, even as technology has advanced, it is a speech, maybe an interview, maybe it is a sit down, a quick thing, letting the reporter sit in the room. It is certainly letting the photographers in. We saw an upheaval in a few years ago when the white house was issuing so many of its own images and keeping reporters out. It is all of the above. We can walk and chew gum at the same time. You can use the empowerment you have as the institution, but also work with the news media. That is we are the only country , where the media that covers the president is right down the hall. And you have to have president bush left and called a symbiotic relationship. There is a little bit of a transaction. As he said last night, you needed me, i needed you. And i think that is important today, even in the face of all of this great new technology that empowers all of us to put out our own content. Host what are your thoughts . I think technology has fundamentally changed. I want to take a step back and remember what this is all about. The relationship and the role of the press in a democracy is so important, it was cemented in the First Amendment to the United States constitution. That is important. In the very First Amendment to the u. S. Constitution. Having said that, there is no more sacred relationship in our democracy than between elected official and voter. That is what it is really about. For generations, you all were the conduit. You were the ones that connected that. You are not needed as much in that relationship these days. And im not saying you are not needed, right . But im saying is because of technology, both sides of that relationship can actually circumvent you, to some extent. So when you see a white house or Political Campaign on either side of the aisle do that sort of thing, i think right now we are still trying to experiment and try to figure out what is the appropriate use . I do not think cutting the press out is appropriate. But there is a way to directly engage, directly take a message i understand why people pursue that. Now, having said that, i will also say that there are challenges on the other side of this equation. The reporter who said, as a few that i have heard say, the notion you have to go to the white house to actually cover the white house is no longer true. And necessary. That bothers me, a little bit. The notion that because of the internet and because peoples views are so the digital age is actually making us less connected, and it is creating a whole new perspective, a whole new reality for so many people. Because anybody is a journalist, anyone with an opinion and set up their own corner, and we are gravitating to people who have like minds. So, there are now conservative Media Outlets where conservative voters can go, there are now progressive digital Media Outlets that do the same. What is happening in the middle, the true objective truth seekers, are struggling, because people are kind of retreating to their corners in this digital universe. And, you know, what do you do . How do you actually discern what is true, real, what is not . Kathleen can i just say one thing . I take your point on all of this. But the thing that is missing in this discuss it of messaging, is a oneway communication. The president of the u. S. , whatever party, is answerable to the public who elected him, or whom he or she serves. What is missing is the opportunity for anybody to ask a question. Journalists have the opportunity to ask questions. The message is not being replaced by town halls or forums, where anybody can ask a question. It is a very select friendly audience, the questions are screened in advance, and its still part of the oneway communication. I think it is not good for any administration to not be questioned by people and not just by people who are shopping are shouting on the internet, but to be able to answer questions. That is a door that is slamming. Mo i dont know if i would agree it is slamming. I think people are trying to figure out the equilibrium, right . I dont think the white house i hear the criticisms of this particular right house white house, and it is shutting the press out, but it is not entirely shut out. The president still does media interviews. He still does news conferences with his new staff, daily briefing. And i think you are right, i do not think it is ok to exclude the press. But what is the right equilibrium in this digit