Three veteran DC journalists hail power of press as enter Hall of Fame
Society of Professional Journalists
Washington, D.C., Pro Chapter
Dateline Awards and Hall of Fame dinner
June 11, 2019
Grand Ballroom of the National Press Club
Milton Coleman, former senior editor of the Washington Post and inducted into the SPJ DC Hall of Fame himself more than a decade ago, introduced Washington Post columnist Michelle Singletary. Here’s what he had to say:
The honoree I am privileged to introduce tonight and the reason we honor her is best described in her own words, by the work she does.
But first I have to give some props to Thomas Jefferson.
Time and again, when under attack, we cite his choice of a free press rather than an all-powerful government as the cornerstone our civil society.
We don’t mention the obligation we have for guaranteed free press. That obligation, he wrote, is to give the people “full information of their affairs” * — in other words, “news you can use.”
Folks outside the Beltway need understandable information on how best to promote their own general welfare, and how best to secure the blessings of liberty for themselves, their families, and the communities where “they the people” actually live.
That’s where Michelle Singletary comes in — characteristically in her words, not Jefferson’s.
For instance:
“Dear Michelle: Help me plan that special day.”
Michelle responds, and I quote:
“Your wedding day should be all about your actually getting married. If it were, then you could just have a simple ceremony and reception with Kool-Aid and a cake.
And this:
“Dear Michelle, I love designer jeans, and now that we have two incomes, I can buy a pair or two more — without going bankrupt. Whattayathink?”
Michelle, and I quote, complete and expletive not deleted:
“If it’s on your ass, it’s not an asset.”
The moral of that designer jeans story was a lesson in investment:
Michelle (and I quote):
“Many people spend too much of their money acquiring things that don’t appreciate in value. In the end, that kind of spending will not help you reach the goals you say you want — a college education for your children, a down payment on a home, a nice retirement nest egg.”
The Society of American Business Editors and Writers paid homage to such plain-talk tutelage on money matters when it honored Michelle last month.
It said her work has been “a shining example of the power of business journalism to help people” through “incisive reporting on personal finance issues, honest and realistic money advice, and a passion for engaging with her audience.”
Michelle had a friendly and spirited debate over debt with economic policy guru Jared Bernstein.
He said some debt was good, and some was not. She said it was all bad.
“Without debt there may not be investment and growth on a macroeconomic level,” Michelle allowed. Then she added this (and I quote):
“I’m more concerned with individuals on a micro level. You and I both agree that people should have choices and opportunities to improve their economic status. But reliance on debt to achieve that goal has just gotten to be too much for far too many people.”
And then there was this time not long ago when Michelle chose full disclosure in a column about health care.
She noted that she and a brother had been raised on Medicaid, and without the medical attention it provided for him, his suffering from epilepsy would have been worse.
A reader wrote back (and I quote):
“Since you teach and preach personal responsibility, I urge you to [endorse] genetic testing. Your brother … should never have been conceived.”
The reader went low; Michelle came back high.
Here’s what she wrote:
“I don’t excuse those who make life choices that result in others having to pick up the pieces. I was one of those pieces.
“Yet, we can’t afford to leave millions of people without a safety net. If not out of compassion, at least recognize that when you pull people up, we are all lifted.”
“The Color of Money,” her column, in whatever its forms or formats, is so much about the color of Michelle.
There is this African proverb: “It takes an entire village to raise a single child.” In the village that raised Michelle Singletary, the chief elder, her inspiration and her mentor, was the woman she knew as Big Mama.
Big Mama is an honorific of sorts. It has less, little or nothing at all necessarily to do with size, marital status or even parentage. Of all those in the extended family that makes up the village, Big Mama is the one who can best tell you about life because she’s learned from life — her life, and others, too.
Big Mama’s wealth was in her wisdom. Time and again, Michelle draws on the teachings of this sagacious black woman — the grandmother who raised her — and shares it with readers, viewers, and listeners all over God’s earth, and lets you know that you can take it to the bank.
She dedicated her first book to Big Mama with a grateful, three-word acknowledgement: “I was listening.”
And tonight, we say to Big Mama, well done. And we give well-earned props to The Listener, who embodies the finest spirit and fact of informed, expert, user-friendly free press journalism in the public interest.
Jefferson would be proud, Big Mama probably is too; and all of us should be proud and grateful that we are blessed and in some ways better than blessed to add to the membership of this hall of fame, Michelle Singletary.
~~~~~
Michelle Singletary‘s remarks, as prepared, follow. She said herself that “I went off script several times, but this is mostly what I said.”
One of the first things she said, off-script, was that “I’m too young for this!”
‘I am way too young for the hall of fame,’ @SingletaryM tells #DCSPJ19. She says congrats to fellow @SPJDC honoree @wolfblitzer of @CNN, ‘who is much bigger in my household than I am.’
— tweeted from the dinner by Jonathan Make, immediate past DC Pro chapter president
First, I want to congratulate my fellow Hall of Fame award recipients, Wolf Blitzer and Peter Maer.
And congratulations to all the Dateline Award winners and Amy Fickling for receiving this year’s Distinguished Service Award.
I also want to thank Steve Taylor, chair of the SPJ-DC Hall of Fame Committee and the board of directors for my selection.
When Steve asked who I wanted to give my introduction, the first person who came to mind was Milton Coleman. He was my “Godfather” at the Post and was instrumental in guiding me throughout my career.
Here tonight with me are two of my three children, Kevin and Jillian, and a young lady who has become my fourth kid, Leilani. Our eldest child is on her way to Amsterdam as a treat to herself for finishing her master’s degree in social work. A vacation paid for with cash. No credit card debt for her!
More often than I’d like to admit, my children have put up with a mother who is often on deadline and barricaded in her messy office, so I have to say thank you to them for sharing me with my readers to some extent for most of their lives.
My sister Monique is here tonight, and I count myself fortunate to have siblings who rejoice with me in my accomplishments. She’s my big sister, even though at times I can act like the first-born, so thanks for your patience, sis.
Finally, I have to acknowledge my husband. He is my mountain, and his support – including taking up the slack in doing the laundry — allows me to write my columns, newsletters and books. I am grateful that my grandmother, Big Mama, was adamant that I not let that man go, although I still maintain that she liked him better than me.
Most importantly, I have to thank God. It was ordained that I end up living with my grandmother in a row house in Baltimore. After my father and mother abandoned me and my four siblings at young ages, my grandmother, Big Mama, took us in rather than see us placed in foster care. There were many times I questioned why God would put me in a house with a woman who was a cross between a Marine Corps drill sergeant and a guardian angel. That combination would have me praising God one day and doubting Him the next, but ultimately, as always, He had a bigger plan in mind.
As I stand before you this evening, I know I was meant to grow up in Big Mama’s house. She was the inspiration for my life’s work as a personal finance journalist. I can honestly say that I learned about money under the tutelage of a woman who could pinch a penny so tightly she would make Lincoln scream!
I still believe that if your aim is to change the world, journalism is a more immediate short-term weapon.
— Tom Stoppard, a former journalist, who wrote “Night and Day”
Tom Stoppard the playwright, once said, “I still believe that if your aim is to change the world, journalism is a more immediate short-term weapon.”
My weapon of change was sharing my grandmother’s financial wisdom.
It’s never lost on me even today that, hundreds of thousands of newspaper readers, radio listeners and television viewers of every race, economic background and education level, are hearing personal financial advice from me that is based on the teachings of a black woman who was raised in the South, was the grandchild of slaves, and who only finished high school.
If you don’t mind, I’d like to read now a short excerpt from the chapter called “Big Mama’s Saving Grace” from my first book “Spend Well, Live Rich.” It reads:
“The best financial planner I’ve ever known was my grandmother. Big Mama raised me and my two sisters and two brothers on a salary that never reached more than $13,000 a year.
“Big Mama knew the difference between buying things that improve your net worth and stuff that just makes you look wealthy.
“’Child, it makes no sense to pay more money for a pair of jeans just because somebody’s name is on it,’ she would preach. ‘The only one who’s going to get rich is the person whose name is on your behind. And that makes you the ass.’”
Every paycheck, Big Mama would pay herself first. Each week, come hell or high water, she would deposit some money in her credit union account before paying any of her bills.
Big Mama never stopped contributing to her rainy day fund no matter how tight money got. “The reason you need a rainy day fund,” she said, “is because there’s always rain. Sometimes it’s a drizzling rain, such as when the washing machine breaks and you have to replace it. Sometimes it rains so hard you feel as if you are in the middle of a monsoon, such as when you lose a job.”
The way my grandmother handled her money taught me that most of us, whatever our situation, can get by on whatever we make. My grandmother believed in the principle that it’s not how much you make that matters but how you make do with what you have.
It’s Big Mama’s financial confidence that I channel every day in my work. So I feel no shame in writing about how frugal I am. Yes, I breast-fed all three of my children because the milk was free.
Finally, as a woman of color to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, I can’t help but reflect for a moment on a particular experience that for me was both frightening and affirming, and one that speaks directly to the need to expand the diversity of voices at every level and in every area of journalistic pursuit.
Not long after I arrived at the Post at the pivotal age of 29, I went to then Assistant Managing Editor for Business, David Vise, and I bluntly asked him if he had hired me because I was black.
Vise closed the door to his office.
“Yes,” he said, “I hired you because you are black.”
Then Vise went on to say: “I also hired you because you’re a woman, because you’re young, because you come from a low-income background, and most importantly, because you’re a good business reporter.”
He made me understand that it was the totality of who I was that made me an asset to The Washington Post, and I am forever grateful for his honest and honorable words of reassurance.
Tonight, receiving this award, and being placed in the same company along with true giants in journalism like Milton Coleman, Wolf Blitzer, Peter Maer, and the full complement of Hall of Fame inductees, I am truly honored beyond words.
Thank you so very much!
~~~~~
Harvey Nagler, retired CBS News vice president of radio, introduced Peter Maer:
The announcement for this award simply says: The criterion for induction into the Hall of Fame: strong journalism over at least 25 years in Washington.
Sounds like if you stick around long enough someone will give you an award … SPJ should call it the survivor award.
But we all know Peter is much more than a survivor.
Peter knows the White House inside out. Covered it since 1986 for NBC/Mutual until we at CBS hired him in 1998. He worked for CBS for 17 more years til retirement in 2015.
There was never a time that I could remember when I ever questioned his journalist judgment …
Well, maybe just once. You see, he was on this yearly boondoggle … no other way to describe it … boondoggle … covering President Obama vacationing every Christmas in Hawaii. Yes, he always had his wife Elizabeth with him because he needed someone to carry his bags.
Picture this … it is New Year’s Eve …
So I called him up and say … Peter, you have to go to this Honolulu hospital because Rush Limbaugh was just taken there. You would not believe the grief he gave me. Peter answers … You sent me half-way around the world to cover the president and you want me to cover … who?
The most important words in our industry … never more important than they are today … OBJECTIVITY … FAIRNESS … ACCURACY …
That’s what Peter stands for. He understands the power of words.
As one of his professors at Southern Illinois said … Peter was born with an integrity gene. Never willing to compromise his solid journalistic beliefs.
He is an unsung hero of journalism who NEVER seeks the limelight. The stories he tells are never about him but always about the person or office he is covering.
I don’t know if you realize what it takes to be a White House reporter for a radio network.
You are on call 24/7 … you have to be familiar with every facet of every story that the President gets involved in … In the case of CBS you have 600 affiliates that have an audience of 30 million listeners who on any given day many of those affiliate reporters and anchors want to talk to you … And, as Peter will attest, many of them have their own opinions on the story … many had, what I call, interesting discussions with him.
As a listener he makes you feel informed … you never question his integrity. He is always putting complex issues into context. It is his knowledge of history that makes him a wonderful journalist.
He knows what is important to his audience, the American public … why they care about what he has to say. That’s what makes him so good.
For Peter, covering Washington was a dream come true.
He was admired by not only his peers but by every President, from Jimmy Carter to Barack Obama. That in itself is an extraordinary accomplishment. Always respected and always respectful.
Always courteous and self-effacing.
He’s traveled the world with them.
One of his favorite funny Bill Clinton stories happened during his 1996 visit to a park near Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Clinton was introduced to a baby koala “coincidentally” named Chelsea.
Peter was pool that day. As Clinton held the animal, he summoned Peter over and on-mic said … “Here Peter. Touch it. It’s real soft.” Meanwhile back in the filing center miles away from the scene, reporters were listening to the audio feed … no video … and from what Peter was told there were gales of laughter as they speculated about what it was that Clinton wanted Peter to touch.
Peter tried not to be the story but could not avoid it when he was roughed up by Soviet Union security officers while trailing former President Reagan in Moscow.
He covered the Mexico City earthquake, where he watched thousands die in the rubble.
Traveled to Southeast Asia with Presidents Bush and Clinton to survey the damage done by a tsunami. Viewing the disaster led Peter to put a very human touch on the story.
Covered every Democratic and Republican primary and national election from 1980 thru 2012.
Peter is a class act … not only as a newsman but as an individual … a person who has lived his life to the highest standards.
Peter is a two-time winner of the prestigious national Murrow Awards … five time winner of the Merriman Smith Awards for Presidential coverage … an Overseas Press Award … the Interfaith Alliance Walter Cronkite Faith and Freedom Award … and now the Sigma Delta Chi (SPJ) Washington Hall of Fame … my pleasure to introduce Peter Maer ….
~~~~~
Peter Maer‘s prepared remarks follow, written in broadcast reader format:
THANK YOU HARVEY… AND ALOHA.
FIRST OF COURSE, I WANT TO EXPRESS MY PROFOUND GRATITUDE TO SPJ FOR THIS VERY SPECIAL HONOR. I WAS JUST EIGHT YEARS OLD WHEN I DECIDED I WANTED TO BE A REPORTER. IT IS ALL I EVER WANTED TO DO. I DISTRIBUTED A NEWSPAPER TO SEVERAL NEIGHBORS. LIKE MANY HERE, I WAS EDITOR OF MY HIGH SCHOOL NEWSPAPER AND REPORTED FOR OUR LOCAL PAPER.
I STARTED IN RADIO WHEN WAS FIFTEEN YEARS OLD AND AT WGNU RADIO 920 IN MY HOMETOWN, GRANITE CITY, ILLINOIS. I HAD THE REQUIRED FCC TRANSMITTER OPERATOR’S LICENSE BEFORE I WAS OLD ENOUGH FOR A DRIVER’S LICENSE. AS I PLAYED RECORDS … YES RECORDS … AND DELIVERED THE NEWS, I NEVER IMAGINED THAT ONE DAY I’D WORK FOR THE BEST BROADCAST NEWS ORGANIZATION IN THE COUNTRY.
THANK YOU HARVEY NAGLER FOR YOUR MOSTLY-KIND REMARKS TONIGHT AND ESPECIALLY FOR HIRING ME AT CBS NEWS. HARV WAS THE BEST BOSS I EVER HAD (ALTHOUGH HE DESPISES THE WORD ‘BOSS.’) MORE IMPORTANTLY, HE IS A DEAR FRIEND. MY FRIEND MICHAEL FREEDMAN, FORMER CBS NEWS RADIO GENERAL MANAGER AND NOW A GUY WITH MANY ACADEMIC TITLES, PLAYED A BIG ROLE WHEN I JOINED CBS. BUT HIS BEST TITLE IS SPOUSE OF RENEE FREEDMAN.
THANKS TO COLLEAGUES CBS NEWS VICE PRESIDENT CRAIG SWAGLER AND WASHINGTON RADIO BUREAU MANAGER STEVE DORSEY FOR BEING HERE. WE SURE CLOCKED SOME MILES AND TIME ON THE AIR TOGETHER. IT IS ALSO WONDERFUL TO BE IN THE PRESENCE OF MULTI-TALENTED JIM BOHANNON, THE PRIDE OF LEBANON, MISSOURI.
BUT MY GREATEST GRATITUDE GOES TO MY WIFE ELIZABETH, OUR SON JONATHAN AND DAUGHTER BETH WHO FOR SO MANY YEARS PUT UP WITH MY DEADLINES, LATE NIGHT CALLS AND LAST-MINUTE TRAVEL.
LET’S HEAR IT FOR ALL OF THE FAMILIES OF NEWS PEOPLE HERE TONIGHT.
IT IS SUCH A TREAT TO SHARE THIS HALL OF FAME MOMENT WITH MICHELLE SINGLETARY AND WOLF BLITZER.
MICHELLE, WE MET FOR THE FIRST TIME TONIGHT BUT I FEEL LIKE I’VE KNOWN YOU FOR YEARS. WE ARE LOYAL READERS OF YOUR COLUMNS. MY WIFE ELIZABETH CONSTANTLY TELLS FRIENDS AND FAMILY, “YOU HAVE TO READ WHAT MICHELLE SINGLETARY WROTE ABOUT THIS.” IN FACT SHE’S MORE EXCITED ABOUT MEETING YOU THAN SHE IS ABOUT MY OWN HONOR HERE TONIGHT. WE ALL LEARN SO MUCH FROM YOU AND APPRECIATE ALL YOU DO EDUCATING SCHOOL AND CHURCH GROUPS.
WOLF AND I GO BACK TO OUR DAYS AT THE OLD MUTUAL RADIO NETWORK. LATER WE WERE THE WHITE HOUSE BEAT TOGETHER.
THAT WAS BACK IN THE 1990S WHEN PRESIDENT CLINTON ALWAYS CALLED HIM, “WOOF.”
HERE IN MY POCKET I HAVE A TREASURED POSSESSION. IT’S A COVETED, HIGHLY SOUGHT-AFTER, LIMITED EDITION PEN INSCRIBED WITH THE CHERISHED WORDS “A FRIEND OF WOLF BLITZER.” CAN YOU IMAGINE WHAT THIS WOULD BE WORTH ON EBAY? BUT SERIOUSLY, I’M SO PROUD TO KNOW YOU, WOLF AND TO RESPECT ALL THAT YOU MEAN TO JOURNALISM AND YOUR C-N-N AUDIENCE AS A TRUSTED VOICE.
— A SPECIAL SHOUTOUT TO OTHER TRUSTED VOICES: REPORTERS COVERING THE COMMANDER IN TWEET.
THEY FACE UNPRECEDENTED CHALLENGES THAT ARE OBVIOUS TO EVERYONE IN THIS ROOM. RETIREMENT GIVES ME THE FREEDOM TO SHARE A FEW OBSERVATIONS. I ASSURE YOU THEY ARE NOT IN ANY WAY PARTISAN VIEWS. THEY ARE BASED ON MY PROFOUND RESPECT FOR THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENCY AND MY DEEP CONCERN THAT IT HAS BEEN CONTINUALLY DENIGRATED IN COUNTLESS WAYS SINCE JANUARY 20, 2017.
A FEW YEARS AGO, WHO COULD HAVE IMAGINED A PRESIDENT COMMUNICATING TO THE NATION AND THE WORLD THROUGH OUTBURSTS ON TWITTER, CONSTANTLY HARPING ABOUT SO-CALLED “FAKE NEWS” AND ACCUSING NEWS ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUAL REPORTERS OF BEING “THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE?”
WHO AMONG US COULD HAVE ENVISIONED THE INTERNAL NEWSROOM DEBATES OVER WHETHER TO FLAT OUT REPORT THAT THE PRESIDENT LIED? OF COURSE MANY PROMINENT NEWS ORGANIZATIONS ARE CALLING A LIE A LIE.
THE ULTIMATE RESPONSE TO THE FAKE NEWS CROWD CAME FROM A VETERAN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER WHO TOLD ME, “WE COVER THIS WHITE HOUSE THE SAME WAY WE’VE COVERED EVERY ADMINISTRATION. WE PLAY IT STRAIGHT.” THAT, MY FRIENDS IS THE BEST ANTIDOTE FOR THE POISONOUS ATTACKS ON JOURNALISTS COMING FROM THE HIGHEST OFFICE I WAS FORTUNATE TO COVER FROM THE CARTER TO OBAMA ADMINISTRATIONS.
I WITNESSED, AND WAS OFTEN PART OF THE TRADITIONAL ADVERSARIAL PUSH AND PULL BETWEEN THE PRESS OFFICE AND REPORTERS. IT’S BEEN MORE THAN THREE MONTHS SINCE THERE’S BEEN A WHITE HOUSE PRESS BRIEFING. AMAZING. THE JAMES S. BRADY BRIEFING ROOM WAS ONCE THE SCENE OF INFORMATIVE DAILY SESSIONS WITH RESPECTED PRESS SECRETARIES FROM BOTH PARTIES, NOT SHADERS OF THE TRUTH WHO DO OCCASIONAL DROP-BYS IN THE DRIVEWAY WHEN THEY’RE NOT CONSUMED WITH PURGING THE PRESS PASS LIST.
EARLIER THIS SPRING HERE AT THE PRESS CLUB, I WAS IN THE AUDIENCE FOR “THE KALB REPORT,” THAT TERRIFIC SERIES OF INTERVIEWS LED BY THE GREAT MARVIN KALB AND PRODUCED BY MIKE FREEDMAN.
THE GUEST WAS APOLLO ELEVEN ASTRONAUT MICHAEL COLLINS. THE CONVERSATION VERY BRIEFLY TURNED TO THE SELF-DESCRIBED “VERY STABLE GENIUS” IN THE OVAL OFFICE.
AT FIRST COLLINS JOKED THAT HE WAS IN “ENEMY TERRITORY” AT THE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB.
BUT THE VETERAN ASTRONAUT QUICKLY BECAME SERIOUS AS HE ALMOST SHOUTED TO THE AUDIENCE, “THE ENEMY MY ASS.” “THE PRESS IS NOT OUR ENEMY,” HE SAID. IT IS OUR SALVATION AND I THANK YOU FOR IT.
I DON’T BELIEVE ANYONE IN THIS ROOM BELIEVES JOURNALISTS ARE PERFECT. SURE WE MAKE MISTAKES AND RESPONSIBLE NEWS ORGANIZATIONS CORRECT THEM.
BUT IN THIS ERA WHEN PEOPLE HAVE SO MANY SOURCES OF INFORMATION, FACTUAL REPORTING MUST BREAK THROUGH THE NOISE AND CARRY THE DAY.
ALTHOUGH I AM RETIRED, I AM STILL PRIVILEGED TO OCCASIONALLY SERVE AS A CBS NEWS CONTRIBUTOR — USUALLY CALLED ON TO REMINISCE WHEN SOMEONE I COVERED DIES. SO I CAN ACCURATELY SAY THAT PEOPLE ARE DYING FOR ME TO BE BACK ON THE RADIO.
IN FACT, WHEN MY LONGTIME PAL STEVE TAYLOR REACHED ME AT THE “OLD RADIO CORRESPONDENTS’ RETIREMENT HOME” TO INFORM ME OF THE HALL OF FAME HONOR, I TOLD HIM THAT RECEIVING THIS WOULD BE LIKE READING AN H.F.R. COPY OF MY OWN OBITUARY. I SHARED THAT SAME THOUGHT WITH MY FRIEND, CBS NEWS PRESIDENT SUSAN ZIRINSKY.
SHE ADVISED THAT AT THESE LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT MOMENTS, ONE SHOULD JUST SAY THANK YOU AND THEN ASK, — “AM I DEAD?”
SO I’LL PINCH MYSELF TO CONFIRM THAT I AM STILL HERE AND CLOSE WITH THIS QUOTE FROM WALTER CRONKITE: “FREEDOM OF THE PRESS IS NOT JUST IMPORTANT TO DEMOCRACY. IT IS DEMOCRACY.” AND THAT’S THE WAY IT IS.
AGAIN, THANK YOU TO EVERYONE AT SPJ.
Close with this quote from Walter Cronkite: ‘Freedom of the press is not just important to democracy. It is democracy.’ And that’s the way it is.
— Peter Maer, citing a famous former CBS Evening News anchor
~~~~~
‘if you don’t succeed, try something else,’ @wolfblitzer says of his time playing football, recalls @CNN ‘s Eric Sherling to #DCSPJ19. also recalls his two-plus decades at the channel. ‘this is such a better hall of fame’ than football, Blitzer says.
— tweeted from the dinner by Jonathan Make, immediate past DC Pro chapter president
Wolf Blitzer‘s prepared remarks:
Thank you Eric for those really nice words.
As Eric just told you, we have a long and wonderful history working together at CNN. Over the years, he has made me a better journalist. I’m grateful for his friendship and his leadership. And, as you can tell by looking at us, I am grateful neither of us has aged at all.
I’d also like to thank the Society of Professional Journalists for this very special honor. If I had told my high school football coach I was going to be a “Hall of Famer,” I don’t think he would have ever believed it! In my mind, this is such a better Hall of Fame to be inducted into … and I really am touched.
And I’m also honored to be included with such truly excellent company.
Let me congratulate Peter Maer, who I am lucky enough to call a friend … and a former colleague during our days together covering the White House. We spent a lot of time together on the road. In fact, we used to joke President Clinton would make day trips to Bosnia. Peter is truly a world-class journalist. And for many years — even after I left the White House — Peter was still in my ear … especially as I was driving home and hearing his excellent reports for CBS on the radio.
Let me also congratulate Michelle Singletary, a true pioneer in helping people understand and manage their personal finances. Her “The Color of Money” column in the Washington Post has helped educate millions of readers, along with her three award-winning books. You don’t need me to tell you that she has changed lives and saved families from financial ruin. What you may not know is that we once made the same smart investment, an investment that has paid dividends for both of us … W. e both chose to go to graduate school at Johns Hopkins.
Let me also say how happy I am to see so many of my friends here tonight … including many former and current CNN colleagues. I am only here because of the amazing work they do each day behind the scenes and behind the camera. Producing television news is a team sport. And I am lucky to have such a strong and talented team. I’m grateful to them.
I’m also so happy to see several close family friends. They make me a better person. And I wouldn’t be here today receiving this honor without the love and support from my wonderful and supportive wife Lynn. To all of you – thanks.
We meet tonight at a very challenging time for journalists, a time when the very idea of a free press is under assault around the world, and sadly, even here at home.
I don’t need to tell any of you this. You not only read and hear about it, you – like me – live it day in and day out. We are called “fake news” and “the enemy of the people.”
Our colleagues are heckled and harassed in person at political rallies and wake up to find death threats in their inboxes. Just last fall, CNN was targeted by a man who sent pipe bombs to our offices in New York and Atlanta.
And it’s not just happening here. This assault on journalism is spreading across the world. It is encouraging despots to detain and jail our colleagues. And to kill them when they don’t like what they hear.
All of this … simply because we journalists want to tell the truth. And because some people don’t want to hear it.
I shouldn’t have to say this, because you all know it. But I find myself making sure I say it whenever and wherever I can:
We do not report fake news.
And we are not the enemy of the American people.
As I have said repeatedly in recent months: We love the American people, because we WORK FOR the American people. And because we ARE the American people.
The work we do is enshrined in the First Amendment of the Constitution because our founders knew that in order to have a true democracy – and to prevent authoritarian rule – there had to be a way for the people to challenge those they elected.
The work we do is enshrined in the First Amendment of the Constitution because our founders knew that in order to have a true democracy – and to prevent authoritarian rule – there had to be a way for the people to challenge those they elected.
Sadly, those freedoms are being chipped away, slowly and quietly, every single day without many in America even noticing.
We can easily see the full frontal assault on our profession. We see it in the name-calling and the debasing of what we do. We see it in the divisions that are created by partisan news sources and the unanswered questions.
I have to believe – and hope – these direct and overt attacks will end sooner rather than later. But what I worry about is what will be left in its wake.
Because at the same time we are being attacked head-on, there is a stealth assault on the practices and traditions that have helped journalists do our jobs for decades.
When I first joined CNN in 1990, I was our Pentagon correspondent. I easily roamed the halls to talk to officials and made phone calls to gather stories from sources. Multiple times each week – and nearly daily during the Gulf War – senior Pentagon officials came to the briefing room and answered questions — on camera and on-the-record. We were allowed to push and prod.
Shockingly, it has now been 376 days since the Pentagon held a press briefing. Three-hundred-seventy-six days – more than a year – since your military leaders answered questions from reporters in a press briefing.
Things have also changed dramatically since my time covering the White House during the Bill Clinton administration. During the seven years I was there, we had on-camera briefings almost every day when the President was in Washington. The press secretaries answered our questions, even when they didn’t like them. Sure, they evaded sometimes, but they gave us the chance to follow-up. And they never insulted us or simply refused to answer.
It has now been more then 90 days since the White House Press Secretary held a scheduled briefing.
We are not the enemy of the people. We are the champions of the truth.
— Wolf Blitzer, host of CNN’s ‘The Situation Room’
Now, when reporters ask questions, they are almost always forced to agree that the answers will be “on background.” And when the President doesn’t like the stories that are written based on those answers, he labels those sources as “made up” and the reports as “fake news.”
More and more often reporters are forced to go to court to receive documents we have a legal right to see. And more and more information is being classified to keep it away from journalists. And anyone who leaks information is being rooted out and made an example.
This is unacceptable.
Each day that another door is closed, that access is denied, we are being pushed further and further away from understanding what our government is doing. Further away from being able to question those who hold office.
As journalists – and, more importantly, as Americans — we should demand better of our government. This great American experiment has always worked because we have been able to get close enough to speak truth to power and to access information for the good of the American people.
This trend of denying and delaying our access won’t be easy to reverse.
But reversing it is our job.
And it is our responsibility.
And it starts with us. Right here. Right now.
So tonight, I want to accept this induction into the “Hall of Fame” on behalf of all of my colleagues at CNN and all of the brave journalists fighting to expose injustice here in the United States and around the world.
But I also want to accept it – not only as recognition of the work our team has done in the past – but as a challenge to me and to all of us to keep doing the hard work. To keep fighting for access. To keep speaking truth to power. And to keep pushing forward, refusing to back down in the face of bullying and insults and threats.
So let me end where I began.
We are not the enemy of the people.
We are the champions of the truth.
So I encourage you to keep fighting the good fight … . And I thank you again for this great honor.
* I am persuaded that the good sense of the people will always be found to be the best army. They may be led astray for a moment, but will soon correct themselves. The people are the only censors of their governors, and even their errors will tend to keep these to the true principles of their institution. To punish these errors too severely would be to suppress the only safeguard of the public liberty. The way to prevent these irregular interpositions of the people is to give them full information of their affairs through the channel of the public papers, and to contrive that those papers should penetrate the whole mass of the people.
— Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington, 1787
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Have a recommendation for a Hall of Fame candidate? Or a Distinguished Service Award honoree? You may pass along the names and supporting information to Steve Taylor, who has chaired the Hall of Fame/DSA Committee for a number of years. He can be reached at juxta747@gmail.com.
The criterion for membership in the Hall of Fame is simply this: strong journalism over at least 25 years in Washington. The Distinguished Service Award goes to an individual who has distinguished himself or herself by contributing to the development of local journalism, mentoring other journalists and/or by working in the community.
Honorees will be recognized at the Dateline Awards and Hall of Fame dinner on June 9, 2020, at the National Press Club in downtown Washington.