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https://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/files/original/471e349a69936bf497b3fc667685969b.pdf
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Text
FOIA Number:
2006-0469-F (2)
FOIA
MARKER
This is not a textual record. This is used as an
administrative marker by the William J. Clinton
Presidential Library Staff.
Collection/Record Group:
Clinton Presidential Records
Subgroup/Office of Origin:
Speechwriting
Series/Staff Member:
Michael Waldman
Subseries:
14450
OA/ID Number:
FolderlD:
Folder Title:
[League of Cities Research]: Rahm
Stack:
Row:
S
92
Section:
Shelf:
Position:
2
2
�Northwestern University Graduation Speech
I was barely admitted to the School of
Speech a little more than a decade ago, so I am
surprised and delighted to be here tonight.
I accepted this invitation, not just because
I wanted to clarify for my old professors that I
had, indeed, defied the odds and made
something of myself, but because I wanted to be
in the presence of some very important people.
Those very important people are you.
You may not feel so important, but the
knowledge you have worked for and the skills
you have earned, make you all VIPs for the
twenty-first century. As masters of the various
disciplines of communications, you have your
fingertips on an ever-expanding, ever-more-
�powerful set of tools that are shaping every
aspect of our society and our future.
In just the ten years since I studied here,
the range and realm of communications has
grown at an incredible pace.
Personal computers connect us to the
farthest comers of the Earth and to potentially
limitless information at the flick of a finger.
Those of you who work in film know that
sets today can be built computer-graphically,
creating a convincing, virtual-reality
environment while actors perform before a
blank screen.
Digital television is about to revolutionize
the images we see on the little screen.
Not very long ago, what we call the news
�cycle, the time between something newsworthy
happening and its appearance in the news, was
twelve to twenty-four hours. Today, news cycles
have been compressed into an hour by the
advent of CNN and all its cable news cousins.
Today, Americans watch more television,
and have access to more channels, than ever
before. Newspapers have been forced to
reevaluate their mission, as round-the-clock TV
coverage of breaking news increasingly
threatened to render the morning paper stale.
Where once television supplemented the
daily newspaper, today most people rely solely
on TV for their information. A recent survey
showed that fully seventy percent of the
American people
What are the impacts of this trend?
�On the whole, they have not bene
particularly good.
The first consequence is that everyone
who appears on television, be they policymakers or the reporters who cover them, takes
on a celebrity status.
Today, office-holders are not so much
statesmen but TV stars. The quickest way to
become a household name is to run for highprofile office. In fact, the lure for many who
seek public office is the instant celebrity their
election and the resulting coverage brings.
This has eroded the quality of leadership at
every level, projecting into public office too
many people for whom the status is more
important that the substance, and for whom reelection overwhelms real accomplishment.
�And this TV-driven "celebratization: of
news and politics has exposed those who
participate in the process to full "celebrity
treatment."
No aspect of a news maker's life is beyond
scrutiny today. Yourfinances,family, friends even your medical records, are fodder for the
media mill. Today, we literally make a mountain
out of a mole, if the mole grows on the body of
a celebrity news maker.
Could Franklin Roosevelt have lifted us
from the Depression and led us through World
War II - a man un a wheelchair, in a television
age?
President Eisenhower's wartime romance
is now the subject of books and movies. But it
never surfaced in 1952.
�And what about John F. Kennedy? The
first, true television president, we remember him
as adynamic, young leader who inspired a nation
and led us in the depths of the Cold War. But in
1960, his life-threatening illness was considered
out-of-bounds.
I'm not suggesting that these leaders or
any leaders should have been issued a pass.
But we all should acknowledge that if we
applied today's media focus to yesterday's
leaders, many would have fallen by the political
wayside before having had the opportunity to
make their historic contributions.
And it's not just the politicians who stand
in this spotlight, Often times, the people who
hold the microphones do, too.
The first generation of television
�correspondents came from the ranks of print and
radio journalists - many of them veterans of war
reporting. They were the Edward R. Murrows
and Walter Cronkites, chosen more for their
journalistic skills and integrity than the quality
of their smiles.
Today, just as in politics, too many are
attracted to broadcast journalism more for the
celebrity it brings than the impact it can have on
public policy. And enormously profitable
broadcast news outlets are increasingly
following the Hard Copies and Inside Editions
down the raunchy road of tabloid journalism.
While there are still fine broadcast
journalists on the scene -1 think, for example, of
Chicago's own Carol Marin - too often they are
not hired and promoted on that basis. In Carol's
case, it seems it was precisely her commitment
to journalistic integrity that drove her from the
�anchor chair.
Another impact, as reporters - like
politicians - become celebrity TV stars, is the
growing gap it creates between them and the
public they serve.
There are reporters and correspondents
who today live lives once reserved for movie
stars - and some are paid salaries to match.
While they focus on the conflicts-ofinterest to which politicians sometimes
succumb, these celebrity-journalists make six
and seven figure salaries off speaking fees and
special interest groups they cover.
Congress has banned such speaker's fees.
We, in the executive branch, can't accept them.
But if we fear the judgement of public
�officials might be clouded by such fees, why
should be assume the judgement of a reporter,
who interprets events on TV and is now the
primary source of information for many
Americans, is not subject to the same,
unwholesome influences?
If a politician, who is casting votes on
health care policy, takes campaign contributions
from the insurance industry, a connection would
almost surely be drawn between money and
motive. That's why we have disclosure.
If a correspondent, who covers that debate,
accepts a $25,000 fee to speak to insurance or
medical industry group, little is made of it though the power of that correspondent to
influence public opinion and, therefore, public
policy, is great.
But it's not just a matter of conflicts. It's a
�matter of connection.
I was struck bu a comment made by
Congresswoman Susan Molinari of New York
recently, when she announced her decision to
retire from the House to assume the role of
anchorperson on CBS.
When asked why she would give up the
position of some importance in order to go into
TV, Molinari replied:
"Well, it's not like I'm going to work in a
mall or anything."
Well, a lot of honest, hard-working people
do work in malls - and many other jobs that
Susan Molinari may not consider particularly
glamorous or important. They happen to be the
people who elected her. They happen to be the
10
�people who elected her. They happen to be the
people who watch TV news.
It was a remark that betrayed much more
than Molinari intended.
But the truth is, the hubris of celebritypoliticians and celebrity-reporters today knows
no boundaries, partisan or otherwise.
My hope today, is not, however, to leave
you with a more jaundiced view of the political
process or the news media in a television age.
My hope is to challenge you to be better
than we have been.
You are the leaders in the media endeavors
of the future. And through your actions, you can
help show the way.
11
�You can help develop a set of ethical
standards, where few now exist, to insulate the
powerful deliverers of news from the conflictsof-interest that pervade the industry today.
You can encourage a greater sense of
understanding and identification with the
concerns and experiences of everyday
Americans.
There is much to be said for the times in
which we live.
There is much to be said for the capacities
we have developed to communicate with words
and images almost instantaneously to people
everywhere. It's an awesome force. It's up to
you to see that it's a positive one.
The challenge for you is to understand the
forces that have been unleashed, and to control
12
�and harness them.
Let it be said that the graduates of the
Class of '98 and beyond gained a better
understanding of the power, possibilities and
pitfalls of these new technologies; that you
brought greater thought and care to your arenas,
and improved their quality.
So when I wish you the best of luck, it's
because a lot more is riding on you than your
own successes.
The system no longer has a moral compass
- it was a hunch but you have to supply the
direction. Each individual has to recognize, as
Aristotle said, "ethics is rhetoric and rhetoric is
ethics."
You are the VIPs, and I am proud to share
this great day with you.
Thank you very much.
13
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Michael Waldman
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Michael Waldman was Assistant to the President and Director of Speechwriting from 1995-1999. His responsibilities were writing and editing nearly 2,000 speeches, which included four State of the Union speeches and two Inaugural Addresses. From 1993 -1995 he served as Special Assistant to the President for Policy Coordination.</p>
<p>The collection generally consists of copies of speeches and speech drafts, talking points, memoranda, background material, correspondence, reports, handwritten notes, articles, clippings, and presidential schedules. A large volume of this collection was for the State of the Union speeches. Many of the speech drafts are heavily annotated with additions or deletions. There are a lot of articles and clippings in this collection.</p>
<p>Due to the size of this collection it has been divided into two segments. Use links below for access to the individual segments:<br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=43&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=2006-0469-F+Segment+1">Segment One</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=43&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=2006-0469-F+Segment+2">Segment Two</a></p>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Michael Waldman
Office of Speechwriting
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1993-1999
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
2006-0469-F
Extent
The size or duration of the resource.
Segment One contains 1071 folders in 72 boxes.
Segment Two contains 868 folders in 66 boxes.
Provenance
A statement of any changes in ownership and custody of the resource since its creation that are significant for its authenticity, integrity, and interpretation. The statement may include a description of any changes successive custodians made to the resource.
Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
William J. Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Adobe Acrobat Document
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
paper
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
[League of Cities Research]: Rahm
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Office of Speechwriting
Michael Waldman
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Box 21
<a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/36404"> Collection Finding Aid</a>
<a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/7763296">National Archives Catalog Description</a>
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
2006-0469-F Segment 2
Provenance
A statement of any changes in ownership and custody of the resource since its creation that are significant for its authenticity, integrity, and interpretation. The statement may include a description of any changes successive custodians made to the resource.
White House Staff and Office Files
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
William J. Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Adobe Acrobat Document
Medium
The material or physical carrier of the resource.
Preservation-Reproduction-Reference
Date Created
Date of creation of the resource.
6/3/2015
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
7763296
42-t-7763296-20060469F-Seg2-021-032-2015