About two weeks ago, Georgetown’s School of Continuing Studies and Politico sponsored Transition 2009, a two-day conference at the National Press Club. On Feb. 12, the conference hosted President Barack Obama’s former campaign manager, David Plouffe.
Plouffe has been credited with orchestrating Obama’s victory and taking key Republican states like Virginia and North Carolina in the November presidential election. At present, he is writing a book, “The Audacity to Win,” about his experiences on the campaign trail. Georgetown sensibly brought this political star to speak to students and other guests at the conference.
Plouffe’s talk made news not because of anything he said, but because journalists at the event were banned from reporting on it. At the National Press Club, of all places, at an event open to the public, Plouffe spoke off the record. It remains unclear who stipulated the press blackout – Plouffe and representatives from Georgetown have accused each other of banning reporters from taking notes.
Nevertheless, Georgetown agreed to sponsor an event at the press club that barred press coverage. Politico, a multimedia political journalism enterprise based in Washington, knew better: It withdrew its sponsorship of Plouffe’s portion of the conference after the coverage ban was made public. The university should have followed suit or ideally – if possible – arranged to allow journalists to report on the event.
The National Press Club’s constitution states, “The Club shall provide people who gather and disseminate news a center for the advancement of their professional standards and skills, the promotion of free expression, mutual support and social fellowship.”
Transition 2009 was supposed to be public; anyone was allowed to attend. By not permitting journalists to do their jobs, Plouffe and the university compromised the spirit of the conference and the press club.
In the past, the university has acknowledged the importance of giving reporters a fair opportunity to cover public events. In October, after U.S. ambassador to China Clark Randt Jr. declared at the beginning of his speech in the Intercultural Center that he would be speaking off the record, University Spokesperson Julie Bataille replied in an e-mail that the press should have been permitted to report on the lecture.
Consistency counts. The university should have taken a stand for the freedom of journalists to cover public events in this case, by refusing to condone it with sponsorship or attempting to lift the press restriction.
Of course, now it’s too late to undo it. For now, we urge the university to do two things: First, commit to allowing journalists to cover all university-sponsored public events; and second, put an end to the childish blame game being waged with Plouffe. If the university instituted the coverage ban as Plouffe alleges, it should take responsibility for it. If not, it should acknowledge the folly of hosting a public event at the National Press Club while barring reporters from covering it.
Ostensibly public events like Transition 2009 should not be hermetically sealed vacuums; journalists should be able to cover them freely and disseminate their coverage and analysis as they see fit. After this most recent flap, the university should recognize this reality.
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