He served as a panelist in the 1992 president ial debate between bill clinton, george h. W. Bush, and ross perot. And he has served as president of the Radio Television correspondents association. In 1998, he joined the nonprofit, Nonpartisan Organization is a founding editor, shaping its coverage of policyolicy trends in issues, health care, demographics, and the business of government. In 2010, he served as a fellow at Harvard Kennedy school of government. I know you will agree with me that gene gibbons is qualified to talk with us today about why journalism is important. Genee join me in welcoming gibbons. [applause] gibbons thank you very much, kristin. Act tocouple of tough follow. I should have a i shouldve demanded a change in schedule. Good morning, everyone. I am delighted and honored to be here today. But i am also a bit dismayed quite frankly to look out at this audience and see so much evidence of just how old i become. Realize thatg to most of the people in this room want even born yet when fitzwater was White House Press secretary and i was a member of the White House Press corps. Said, all of my good stories are completely updated. Telling you about how it was way back when i was covering the white house would be like someone telling me what it was to cover interesting, but not very relevant. Threered six president s, fulltime as a fullfledged member of the White House Press ps, president s reagan four president s. Carter, reagan, george h. W. Bush, and clinton. I filled in covered i filled in covering richard nixon. If the team at the white house did extra help, i would pitch in. But as a fulltime White House Correspondent, it was before residents carter, reagan, bush, clinton. For me, the standout was george h. W. Bush. I think he deserves a lot more credit than he got at the time for his leadership. Themples, number 1 war in iraq, the war after iraq had invaded kuwait. At that time, we were very heavily dependent on arab oil. It would have had a profound Economic Impact on the United States. Knitted together an international coalition, used diplomacy until there was no road for diplomacy, and then the theater operation was an overwhelming force. He had an exit strategy that was textbook president ial leadership followed by the collapse of the soviet union. Has abefore in history great empire disintegrated without bloodshed. And yet president bush let us through that crisis without a single drop of blood being shed. History is going to create a much more kind and he was treated that the time. New cover the white house, you get to travel a lot. There is good to bad there is good and that it that. I got to go to places that most people only dream of. On the other hand, i was away from my family quite a bit. I missed a lot of birthdays, ballgames, dance recitals. Son chad, who my is now 39 years old, told me whenever i went on a trip, he became very afraid and had trouble sleeping. Fived seen when he was years old, Television Coverage of the assassination attempt on president reagan. And as a little boy, he was convinced that that was the environment we lived in. Every time i went away, he was afraid i was not coming home. I had no idea. I was stunned when he told me that. My most memorable trip was president reagans visit to normandy for the 40th anniversary of the invasion. I had a personal connection to that event. My uncle landed in the first beach, dday on omaha which was the bloodiest sector of the bloodiest beach in that invasion. Won a award ofe bravery. What was extraordinary was that he was a doctor. Medam do noncombatants get ls to that level. He never talked about what he did, but it had to be quite extraordinary. Three back to normandy other times with president clinton for the 50th anniversary, and twice on my own. If you get a chance, it is really worth going to see because our nation and the allied nations did great things there. It is sacred ground and a very moving experience for me, and i think it would be for you as well. Another memorable trip was president bushs trip to the persian gulf area just before the outbreak of the war. That was memorable not only because it was very moving to be there and seeing the troops and visualizing what they were levied to be going through, but it also had a rather comic ending. At the start of the trip and czechoslovakia, we went from there to germany, and from there to france and then on to saudi arabia. From saudi arabia, we went to egypt. Then there was an ad onto the trip. We stopped in geneva, switzerland for a meeting between president bush and the president of syria. There is a small group of reporters called the tight pool. They filed air force one with the president. It includes wire service reporters, newspaper reporters, newsmagazine, Television Correspondent and proof from one of the networks. All of the positions rotate except for the Wire Services who are permanent members of the pool. Air force one lands, whatever networks were in the pool that day join the motorcade so they can get their own footage if something happens. Police had not been briefed on what was about to happen, so when air force one expanded a stop, the pools that it approaching aircraft, and the swiss police thinking that this might be some kind of a security breach, motioned for them to stop. In the White House Press corps can sometimes come and i very often, but once in a while, be a little arrogant and so we ignored the swiss police. One of the policeman brandished his weapon. Housenraged the white chief of staff who summoned the swiss interior minister. Sitting in the green room with the other members of the word went around that the swiss police had surrounded air force one. We were all tired. Washat point, what it did put in enormous chip on everyones shoulder. As we got to the plane, there was a heavier Police Presence then when we arrived. They were allowing everyone to board. One of the swiss cops through a novo and then there was a melee during which, the chief of protocol, and one of the president ial advisers, got roughed up. We got on the airplane and took off. Diplomaticing a protest. That is news. They United States was going to file a diplomatic protest. The wire service reporters used to take turns calling in a story, and it was my turn. Telephone withe the bureaus of the three Wire Services in washington. It was a push to talk telephone and the connection is not good and pure over the outs and youre getting pushed around the flight with turbulence. Story andated the finally finished in my hand was cramped. One of the other news organizations said, we did not get a word of that, can you repeat it all . It just goes to show you that no good deed ever goes unpunished. I am honored to be here at Franklin Pierce university bestse it is one of the schools for the school of communications. It is a fitting tribute to a man i did the respect and admire. Withe known and interacted more than a half a dozen white house in the course of my career. My former colleagues in the White House Press corps would agree. Why was marlon the very best . Because he truly believed, and still believes, that the public has a right to know what our government is up to. That is not to say that he told me and my colleagues everything he knew, or even most of what he knew. That is not the role of a president ial spokesman. If there is a sensitive way, or a issue under military operation about to begin, it is not going to be very successful if you tell the whole world before hand. He was the very best because when he told me and my colleagues something, it was factual. It was the truth. He did not try to spin the information whether it was flattering or unflattering to the president. Giving the public actual information. You know, these days its like an abnormal situation. Spokespeople for our wouldbe leaders contorting and distorting facts these days, it reminds me of what used to be the of a comedians joke. Who are you going to believe me or your lying eyes . All this goes to the point of the subject of my talk here today. My journalism was important and i am going to talk about that briefly, but i will leave most of the time for your questions. Why is journalism important . Journalism, good, solid, impartial, factual reporting of the issues and events of our lives, is absolutely vital, essential. It is, quite simply, the lifeblood of democracy. That theforget government of our wonderful country is us. Not the politicians. Not the bureaucrats. Us. The politicians and the bureaucrats represent us and they serve us. What we elect the politicians and the bureaucrats carry out the policies we decide. You are member the first words of the u. S. Constitution . We, the people. Making in the gettysburg address spoke of government of the people, by the people, for the people. It is true. We often forget that. Unless we the people, good, solid, factual information, we cannot make sound decisions about what the government should do or not do. That is where journalism at its very best comes in. Notnalism is important, just because of government and politics, it is important in helping us make sense of the world in which we live. Good and bad. You know, there are some sense about us. Organization an called partners and healthbased in boston. He has spent his professional life bringing medical care to the poorest of the poor on this earth. We need journalists to seek out and write about and tell people about people like paul farmer. Us to leave some of support his work, and maybe lead a few of us to in your late him. Emulatea few of us to him. Of the worlders are few and far between unfortunately. There are more people out there exploiting other human beings, enslaving women in many parts of the world. Forcing individuals to work in unsafe or inhuman conditions. Journalism is important in that case to expose those sorts of people. Andfflict the comfortable that can be dangerous work because the evildoers of this world will often have no scruples and will stop at almost nothing to of the mineta anybody who gets in their way. In order to inform the public, i believe we journalists must be wellinformed. I think that means reading widely, knowing a great deal about american and world history, and always seeking to expand our storehouse of knowledge. I think it means writing clearly. And what i am about to say now wheree heresy in a world celebrity journalism seems to be the rate. Good journalism should have a passion of being anonymous. Too often, journalists these days let ourselves become a part of the story instead of letting the story speak for itself. I myself became part of the story once, and i hated it. It was president clintons first primetime News Conference. Dressed i was getting for work that day, my wife was away somewhere. I chose to wear an almost fluorescent mickey mouse tie. It was an horrific tie. My wife would not let me go out of the house if she saw me wearing it. As a News Conference began and the president called me for a question, when he saw the type, he said, i love that tie, it is a wonderful tie. The American People should see that tie. He made such a fuss over the tie, i thought it would be awkward just to launch into my question. So i said, mr. President , this is what people think the White House Press corps is about is mickey mouse. As soon as i said that, i committed the cardinal sin. People in the country see a reporter being a wiseguy to the president of the United States and the think it is disrespectful and dont like it very much, and it is not a good career move for folks like me. Ended, a News Conference the White House Press secretary came walking by and i took the tie off and gave it to her and said, here, get this to the president and tell him i did not mean any disrespect. Clinton came back into the green room 45 seconds later wearing the tie. [laughter] and a News Conference resumed, and that became the story of the News Conference. Clinton and my tie. He had a sense of humor and was a good guy. Well, i was mortified. That was not the story. The story was that bob dole who was the senator republican leader was giving ever sponsor the president s comment on the networks. When clinton walked back to the east room, they blew the opposition off the tv tube. That was the real story. My colleagues missed it. Speaking of missing the story, or maybe over blowing it, i think too much information the public gets these days lacks perspective because a lot of us journalists just arent well grounded in history. As i mentioned, to be a good journalist, you need to cost me be studying history. We get an awful lot of what i call, oh my god, the sky is falling reporting these days. Us, orrorists will kill if not, the virus will get us. Frightened people make bad decisions. The world is safer now been it has ever have been in history. We live in a relatively peaceful time. I see some skepticism and some of your faces. Consider this six years of world war ii between 1939 and 1945, 60 Million People were killed. One person was killed every single second for six years. And these are dangerous times . Have anobviously interesting journalism conforming bill is an informing the public, otherwise, you would not be here. As marlon mentioned in his interview, it is a bad time for journalism. Gathering the news is expensive, and those who do it well, major newspapers, Wire Services, they pay organizations they are having a hard time financially. It is a lot easier to make and sell entertainment. It makes money, but i am afraid it in flames the public more than it informs the public. If you go into journalism, and i hope all of you will because i job t is a very poor it is a very important job. Dont do it for the wrong reasons. Do it for the same reasons that i think you are probably here today. You are endlessly curious about things come about the world you live in. Some of you, maybe all of you, could do a Great Service for the rest of us by maintaining that curiosity. Going out and learning all you can come answering the questions you have, and then telling others about it. I am convinced there is a better way, the best way to enrich all of our lives, to improve our country, and improve the world. Thank you very much for your attention. And now i will take some questions. [applause] the recent clinical poll found that 50 of White House Correspondent think that daily press like meeting should be overhauled completely. Do you think that sentiment existed after time at the white house and by do you think it exists today . When marlon was White House Press secretary, the daily britain was not televised. That change under president clinton. I think it was a bad move, quite frankly. Because it led to a lot of posturing. Seeking information, reporters would try to impress their bosses in the newsroom, or play to the people on television. I think that the Daily Briefing was quite useful. And previous to marlon, after that, there was an awful lot of playacting. Nowve been out of the game too long to admit. I do not know how it plays on a daily basis, but i am inclined to believe that the journalists in the pool have it right. It might have outlived its usefulness. A lot another part of that is you cannot depend just on the briefing to get your information about what is going on in the white house. In a television age, too often, reporters tend to do that. Forvered National Politics a number of years before a cover the white house, and i knew a lot of people in both parties, outside of the white house. And i would frequently find out more about what was going on in ae white house by calling staffer of a committee on the hill, or talking to a member of Congress Just because, not for any blind purpose, but a policy might be in a formula stage and the white house was not able to announce it yet. I wanted to find out about it before they let me know about it. So i would go elsewhere. Tendencye is often a to almost have a combative situation between the people sitting in the press room, and the press secretary. And that does not illuminate any of us. Experience, how do you think journalism differs in politics compared to your everyday newsroom . Can you approach a little closer . I am terribly hard of hearing. How do you think bill is a different how do you think journalism differs in gene oh, i see. Good question. You. Political journalism is probably the most glamorous aspect of journalism, but its not really the only aspect and often its not the most important aspect. As i mentioned, there are a lot of things going on in this world. The World Politics comes from the word polis, which is greek for people. All of the stories are about all of us. I think it helps all of us to understand our lives and to work to make our lives better, onby knowing what is going not so much in washington, as it , is at the statehouse and other places. Barbara bush used to say it is more important what happens in your house rather midway happens rather than what happens in the white house. I think that is true. Their all kinds of things that people are doing that we all should know about. Thats a very valuable aspect of journalism. Not to mention, im inclined to be something of a wonk, but there is a lighter side of life we should know about as well. I want to know how the red sox are doing. I dont follow the Washington Redskins very much, but my wife is a big auburn fan, so we have to look up those scores every week. Thats important, too. Thank you. So it is important to report the facts and journalism. I was wondering how you avoided adding your own personal bias into what you wrote and how to avoid that ourselves . Gene thats a very good question. I must say your questions are quite impressive.