[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book I)]
[April 18, 1997]
[Pages 450-451]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Teleconference Remarks on the Opening of the Newseum
April 18, 1997

    The President. Thank you, Al and Charles and Peter. Thanks a lot for 
asking me an easy question that can only get me in trouble. Whatever I 
say, I'll be behind the curve ball, which is, of course, where all of 
you try to keep me. [Laughter] Nonetheless, I'm glad to be with you 
today. And I am glad the Vice President was able to officially open the 
Newseum, and I'm glad he told you the stories that I hear about once a 
week about his days as a reporter. [Laughter] He says he was always 
accurate, vigorous, and totally fair. [Laughter]
    Thanks to the technological wizardry that you've built into this 
wonderful Newseum, I'm able to join you on your video news wall for the 
grand opening. It's amazing to me that this is happening. You know, when 
I was growing up, I got my news from my local paper or watching the 6 
o'clock news on my family's black and white TV, and I suppose I never 
imagined the incredible array of ways people would someday get their 
news and their information, from all-news radio and TV to the Internet 
and all the sort of ``near-news'' programs.
    And I think that's why this Newseum is so important, because it will 
remind us that we've come a long way, but no matter how it's packaged or 
delivered, news has always fulfilled mankind's most basic need to know. 
And it also reminds us that democracy's survival depends upon that need 
to know and the free flow of ideas and information.
    I congratulate you on giving our children and their parents an 
opportunity to learn about the role news media has in protecting our 
freedoms and helping us to build the most robust and open society in 
human history.
    This Newseum is not only a tribute to the news profession, it's also 
a tribute to the men and women who have dedicated their lives to it, who 
know that, always, there are going to be people who will work hard to 
struggle, sometimes at real personal risks to themselves, to get the 
news and hopefully to be fair, honest, and critical in their reporting 
of it. America is stronger and freer because of them, and I thank them. 
This Newseum is really a great addition to the Washington area. And I 
know it will attract a lot of visitors, not only from every State but 
also from all around the world.
    Now, the question you asked me is a fair one and a good one. I think 
that the fundamental role of the news media and the reporting today is 
what it has always been--is to give people information in a fair and 
accurate way. But the context is far different. There are, first of all, 
more sources of news. There is more information that people have to 
process, and people get their news in more different ways. And as I 
said, there are all these sort of ``near-news'' forces bearing down on 
you and offering competition.
    I sometimes wonder what it's like to put together an evening news 
program or a morning newspaper when the main story has been playing 
every 5 minutes on CNN for 6 hours, and whether you really--whether that 
affects what you do or not. I would say that from my perspective, the 
most important thing is that while we're being inundated with this glut 
of information, that we try to make sure that people have a proper 
context within which to understand the information. I think that the 
fact that we can have more facts than ever before is important, but if 
you don't have any framework within which to understand those facts, it 
seems to me it poses an enormous challenge.
    The other thing that I think we have to do is to be careful when we 
report the stories about things that might be true, not to say that they 
are, particularly if to say that they are or to imply that they are 
could cause real damage to people in their reputations and, indeed, in 
their own lives.
    But I think that the competition to which you're subject makes it 
more difficult both to

[[Page 451]]

keep down excessive hype in some stories and to take the time and the 
effort to put it in proper context. I think in some ways it is much more 
difficult to be a member of the news media than in years past. It's a 
great challenge. And all the benefits of this communications explosion 
impose new challenges on you to meet the old-fashioned duty of being 
accurate, thorough, tough, and fair.
    Q. [Inaudible]--once you're off your crutches, you and your family 
will come over and browse through the Newseum with us. Thank you very 
much, Mr. President.
    The President. I'd love to do it. Thank you, and bless you all. 
Congratulations.

Note: The President spoke by satellite at 11:24 a.m. from the Roosevelt 
Room at the White House to the Newseum in Arlington, VA. In his remarks, 
he referred to Allen H. Neuharth, chairman, and Peter S. Prichard, 
executive director, Newseum; and Charles Overby, chief executive 
officer, Freedom Forum.