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1   3RD GOVERNMENT AND MEDIA                           
2   PERCEPTION AND REALITY SEMINAR                        
3   WASHINGTON, D.C.                                
4   MAY 2, 2002.
5   8:00 A.M.
6   MEDIA KEYNOTE SPEECH
7
8   PRESENTER:  FRANK SESNO 
9
10          !VIDEO BEGINS HERE!       
11  >> CAROL HARVEY:  
12   ...we are people who believe in good government and who want 
13   to help the government communicate more effectively 
14   with our citizens and inside each of our agencies.
15    When we see a need, we meet it.  When we hear about a
16    resource, we share it.  And this seminar today is one
17    example of the kinds of things that we like to do.  How
18    many of us were with the federal communicators network
19    last year at the natural center?  Did any of you attend
20    that event?  It's interesting to see that we have a whole
21    new group of people this year, so I'm glad to see that we
22    are reaching people.  We would like to thank our generous
23    supporters today.  Because we are a virtual volunteer
24    organization, we invited other organizations to help us
25    put on this event.  And we want to thank them now, the
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1    Partnership for Public Service, the U.S. Office of
2    Personnel Management, the Council for Excellence in
3    Government, Federal Computer Week, The Social Security
4    Administration, Vodium, the Public Forum Institute, who
5    did our online registration and our administrative support
6    and of course our host, the Department of Agriculture.
7    Please join me now in thanking our generous supporters.
8    (Applause.)
9    How many of you are here because you received an e-mail
10    from Pat Wood?
11    (Laughter.)
12    Pat, would you stand up?  I'm sure they would like to know
13    who you are.  This is Pat Wood.
14    (Applause.)
15    I like to think of Pat as the godmother of the Federal
16    Communicators Network.  She was there at its creation.
17    She sustains it year after year.  She gathers some of us
18    together every week, either in person or by conference
19    call.  And it's her vision, her leadership and not to
20    mention her e-mails that keeps this organization going.
21    And I often find that I know about things before my own
22    agency leaders do, because I've heard about it from Pat.
23    So, we want to thank her.
24    We also want to thank Marci Hilt.  Marci, where are you?
25    I've got lights in my eyes.  Marci is our conference
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1    chair.
2    (Applause.)
3    Marci organizes this conference.  She is our chair.  She
4    has been doing the behind the scenes work.  And in
5    addition to that, you have in your hands another product
6    of her effort, the Communicators Guide.  Marci is the
7    coordinator for this publication, that is what she calls
8    herself.  I think of her really as the author.  The person
9    who made this guide happen.  And you all have received
10    copies of it today for free.
11    If you would like to have additional copies, I bet that
12    you will want more once you read it, you may order them
13    and the ordering information is on the inside cover of the
14    publication.  And if you would like a copy of the
15    Communicators Guide in an accessible format, the USDA
16    target center can make that available to you.  Their phone
17    number is:  202-720-2600.  And it's 720-2600.  If you need
18    that number later in the day, just stop me and I'll give
19    it to you.
20    I would like to thank the interpreters today who are
21    making the conference accessible.  We have them here.  We
22    appreciate that.  Would anybody else involved in
23    organizing this event please stand?  I'd like you just to
24    see who they are.  They are probably all out working
25    somewhere.  But this is an interagency effort.  We have
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1    Donise.  She is another one of the people who is always
2    behind the scenes, but really keeps the train running.  So
3    we appreciate her.  If you would like to join us, if you
4    are somebody who cares about good government and good
5    communications, sign the blue form in your package and get
6    on Pat's e-mail list so that you will know as much as the
7    rest of us do.
8    One of the great things about FCN is our sense of
9    teamwork.  And if you would like to be part of a team that
10    makes things happen instead of making excuses as to why
11    things don't happen, please join us.
12    Now, I need to share some logistical concerns with you.
13    First of all, as you know, we're all more sensitive to
14    security requirements now.  Please wear your name tag all
15    day.  This shows that you are approved for access and
16    movement around the building.  So we want to make sure
17    that you have it on at all times.  Also, note our
18    emergency exhibits.  I don't expect any emergencies today,
19    but we do have emergency exits that go directly outside
20    right here.
21    I hope you'll notice that in your folder is a pink map of
22    USDA.  We want you to be able to find the things you need
23    and first of all, the women's room is out the door and to
24    the left on wing 6.  The men's room is out the door and to
25    the right, on wing 5.  Every wing has a restroom.  But
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1    you'll need to alternate wings to find the appropriate one
2    for you.
3    >> Carol, it's the other way.
4    >> CAROL HARVEY:  You're right.  I'm like the scare crow
5    in the Wizard of Oz.  Also, we would like you to stay in
6    the building today.  I don't think you'll want to go
7    outside for lunch.  But the cafeteria, if you found it
8    already, is outside to your right and down wing 3.  And
9    you may have noticed that we have a special area at the
10    back of the cafeteria for our group for break times.  The
11    cafeteria folks here told me that we feed the people who
12    feed the world.  So, if they feed the people who feed the
13    world, I guess they're good enough to feed us, too.  We
14    have provided extended break times and an extended lunch
15    hour so that you can move around and also so that you can
16    network with each other.  Because one of the most valuable
17    benefits of this program, after hearing the advice that
18    our speakers have to share, is meeting other people in
19    this room.  And sharing resources with each other.
20    How many of you are sitting next to someone you don't
21    know?  Would you introduce yourself right now, please.
22    Introduce yourself to the person you don't know.  Great!
23    By the time you leave today, I hope that when you go down
24    to the break room, when you go to lunch, when you return,
25    that you will introduce yourself to the people around you
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1    and get to know them and what they do.
2    I do have one courtesy item.  I know we are all used to
3    this by now, but please turn off your cell phones and
4    pagers.  We are recording this session.  And if you don't
5    know, it's going to be webcast as of next Monday, you'll
6    be able to go to Vodium's website and the entire
7    conference will be on the website.  They are also
8    preparing a transcript of this event.  So that we can
9    share the information that we get here far beyond the
10    number of people who are in the room.
11    I read a little item in the post last year saying that
12    Queen Elizabeth was very irked because her serving staff's
13    cell phones kept going off as they were serving her
14    dinner.  And the one that particularly annoyed her was the
15    one that played the Hawaii Five-O theme.
16    We feel having dialog with the speakers is an important
17    part of the program so we hope that you will ask questions
18    at the end of the presentations.  We ask that you use the
19    microphones, we will have people in the aisles with
20    handheld mikes.  People in the back of the room won't hear
21    you if you don't, but more importantly we won't be able to
22    catch your question for the transcript and for the
23    webcast, and we want to do that.  So please be sure to use
24    the microphones and hold them up when you do that.
25    Now it's my pleasure to introduce to you Monte Lutz from
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1    the public forum group.  And he will explain to you why
2    you have these little devices with buttons and numbers on
3    them at your seats.  Monte?
4    >> MONTE LUTZ:  Good morning.  Monte Lutz with the Public
5    Forum Institute.  And for those of you who do not know us,
6    we are a group of people that are focused on citizen
7    engagement that partners with public officials and
8    agencies on outreach and education initiatives with a
9    special emphasis on public forums and listening sessions
10    like that which we have here today.
11    For those of you who do not know us, there is extra
12    information in the packet of materials that you have about
13    the various things that we do.  But really what I want to
14    talk to you about, as Carol said, these blue key pads that
15    are at your seats.  We use these key pads, they are called
16    E-forum.  And use them in the vast majority of events that
17    we do, because it helps to facilitate communication
18    between folks in the audience and making them active
19    participants in the event and everybody that is up here on
20    stage.  And so throughout the day today there will be a
21    number of times where Carol will be asking questions to
22    you, the audience, and you will be able to give your
23    feedback through the key pads.
24    Now, there's three features about the key pads that are
25    good to keep in mind.  One is they are anonymous.  So we
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1    don't have anybody's name tied to anything.  So, don't be
2    afraid to answer or answer really as often as you would
3    like.  Because, frankly, what's going to happen is each
4    key pad will send a signal up here and you'll not be able
5    to stuff the ballot box essentially.  Your last vote will
6    be counted as the vote for your particular seat.  The
7    other thing, they won't work on your TV.  They look like
8    the remote control but they won't work.  So if you don't
9    mind keeping them here in the auditorium that will help us
10    out at the end of the day trying to pick them up.
11    Now, Mark will show us a couple sample questions here just
12    to give everybody the feel of using the key pads and then
13    again Carol will introduce them throughout the rest of the
14    program during today.
15    Now, the first question we have here is which of the
16    following film titles best sums up your agency's or
17    organization -- we wanted to make sure that everybody was
18    awake this morning.  So, one we have A Beautiful Mind.
19    Two, Gladiator.  Three, Revenge of the Nerds.  Four, Close
20    Encounter.  And five, the Good, Bad and the Ugly.  I'll
21    give it a moment here for everybody to put their input in.
22    And for all of you, we do have about 300 --
23    (Laughter.)
24    -- the answer is up.  It's the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
25    50 percent.
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1    The second question that I'm going to ask is the final
2    question before I turn it back over to Carol is to get a
3    sense of how many years of experience do you have in your
4    current position?  What we will be able to do then is take
5    some of this information.  And the questions that are
6    asked later, be able to see if there is a difference based
7    on a couple different demographic factors that we will
8    talk about.  So less than one year.  1 to 3 years.  4 to
9    6, 7 to 10 or more than 10 years.  And Mark will give us
10    the answer.  So it seems like we have a good mix of people
11    here in terms of experience.
12    Now, as I said, most of the seats here do have a key pad.
13    We have brought about 300.  Those are those that we have
14    here in Washington that we regularly use.  And so if
15    anybody does not have a key pad, we will be happy to bring
16    one to you, as far as they go.  I think we have the vast
17    majority of key pads available for people.  And now I'll
18    just turn it back over to Carol.  Thank you.
19    >> CAROL HARVEY:  Before I forget, someone left this in
20    the back of the cafeteria.  So I'll put it right down here
21    if this looks like something that belongs to you.  Take
22    it.
23    Now, it's my pleasure to introduce our keynote speaker.
24    Many of you know him from his years with CNN.  He is a
25    familiar face and a familiar voice, he was the Washington
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1    bureau chief here.  But he is now, you may not know this,
2    a professor of public policy and communication with George
3    Mason University in Fairfax.  And this fall our keynoter
4    will teach a new course tackling the controversial
5    question of media bias.  We don't know about media bias,
6    do we?  As well as convening public forums and symposia.
7    So not only is he an excellent communicator, but he is
8    also someone who is interested in educating and exploring
9    ideas.  He has several projects in the works right now.
10    He is doing a major documentary on the life and legacy of
11    former President Ronald Reagan that will air on the
12    history channel.  And Frank just toll me that he spent
13    time yesterday with the President talking to him about
14    former President Reagan in preparation for that program.
15    He is working with George Mason and WETA TV to develop a
16    new public affairs program for public television and he
17    still is a contributor to CNN.  Many of you saw him there
18    when he was on late edition with Frank Sesno for 7 years.
19    He anchored and reported many major international and
20    domestic events and was the White House correspondent for
21    many years.  Now Frank, I have a question, your bio says
22    that you worked at Voice for America.  Were you a fed?
23    >> I was.
24    >> Good for you.  So he is also a former federal employee.
25    Please join me in welcoming Frank Sesno.
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1    (Applause.)
2    >> FRANK SESNO:  Thank you very much.  Very gracious
3    introduction.  It's a pleasure to be here.  I hope you'll
4    spare me a fit of indulgence.  I recently had a Lasix
5    thing done, so I'm not sure if I'm close or far or blurred
6    or sharp, and I've got glasses that I'm putting on and
7    taking off.  I love your agency and the movie thing.  And
8    I was thinking, 17 years at CNN, how would I describe
9    that?  "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."  "Fatal
10    Attraction" and I settled on "Star Wars."
11    (Laughter.)
12    And I'm trying to consider who is Darth Vadar and whether
13    or not Luke Skywalker really exists.  But I'm delighted to
14    be here today and I hope that you will ask some blunt and
15    honest and kind of mean and nasty questions when the time
16    comes, and I'll do my best not to answer them.  Actually,
17    that's not true.  I'll do my best to answer them, because
18    now that I'm free and unfettered, I'm sort of speaking my
19    mind.  I guess that implies that I wasn't speaking my mind
20    before, but I'll work on that.
21    I want to turn a familiar phrase around for today.  Hello.
22    I'm from the media and I'm here to help.
23    (Laughter.)
24    I want to share with you today some thoughts I've got
25    about where we are in this particular moment in time, what
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1    makes a news story, what kinds of relationships work
2    between government communicators and people in the press,
3    and a little bit of a thought on where the media are
4    today.  But before I do that, I'm kind of curious.  We
5    didn't do this on the screen so we will go back the old
6    fashioned way with a show of hands, and with my altered
7    eyes I hope I'll see enough to get something out of it.
8    I'm curious about the different agencies you're from.  I
9    don't know how to do this.  Let's start with Ag, since we
10    are in the building.  Do we have state, defense, foreign
11    policy types in the room?  That's pretty interesting.
12    What about treasury, OMB, money, economy, fed John
13    Greenspan in the room?  Good day to sell?  Okay.  What am
14    I missing?
15    >> AUDIENCE:  (inaudible).
16    >> FRANK SESNO:  Labor, interior, Social Security?  Can we
17    talk afterwards?  What else.  Energy.  Education.  Okay.
18    Great.
19    So, really, it's a very broad group and that's really
20    terrific.
21    Let me launch right in.  I'll talk about 20 minutes and
22    then I'd like to move on to your questions.  First of all,
23    set me start with something that I feel strong about, and
24    that is what does it take to make a good story?  And I
25    don't mean a daily story, I mean a daily that reaches
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1    critical mass that has real legs.  I'd argue from the fall
2    of the wall in 1989 there was a period of time when we
3    didn't have a story, capital S.  There wasn't an epic
4    story that provided the prism through which me, and I
5    speak of the media but also public and public policy
6    makers view the word.  Before 1989 it was the cold war.
7    It was an epic story that cut across ages, race, border,
8    really, and it allowed us in the media and the public to
9    make some sense of everything certainly on a foreign
10    policy front, from Nicaragua to Angola to the Soviet
11    Union even to the Middle East, because any story that
12    dealt with anything international was seen through the
13    prism of a cold war struggle.  Even domestic issues.
14    Education, for example, think of Sputnik, was frequently
15    seen through the prism of the cold car.  Who would win and
16    who would lose?  In the media, there was great interest in
17    what happened.  I was at Reykjavik.  I was in Geneva.  I
18    remember when Reagan and Gorbachev shook hands.  It was a
19    dramatic and earth shattering moment, because people,
20    media, as they wrote the stories, as they watched, they
21    felt that something truly momentous was happening, but
22    also something that would affect their lives.  Because if
23    these guys screwed up, we might be able to mix the last
24    mint julep, sit out on the porch and watch the final
25    sunset.  I remember when we came out of Reykjavik, if you
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1    were paying attention, I think most of us were, those
2    faces on the Presidents Reagan and Gorbachev when the
3    talks in the end there had failed and the sense of gloom
4    and even doom as we flew back, until the government
5    communicators and others told a different story.
6    But nonetheless, there were events that riveted the world.
7    It was hard to find events that riveted the world in quite
8    that way and quite that sustaining capacity from the time
9    the wall fell until September 11.  September 11,
10    obviously, I believe, puts us in a new era.  It's an era
11    of vulnerability.  It's an era when and where in which
12    globalization, globalization, the dark underbelly of
13    globalization has reached deep into the heart of America
14    and brought home that our two best friends, the Atlantic
15    and the Pacific, are now no longer sufficient to protect
16    us.  So as a result, virtually all of what we report now
17    or a lot of what we report, certainly, is seen through
18    that prism.
19    I spoke to a group of hospital administrators recently and
20    they were talking about, as they're trying to reach out to
21    their communities, much in the way that they're now doing
22    that is talking about their own bioterrorism preparedness,
23    their own emergency preparedness, they are conveying their
24    story through the prism now of this experience, this news
25    story.
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1    There are three elements, I believe, to a story of this
2    sort.  And if we look -- and through history, I think we
3    see them.  Fear.  Conflict, or compelling human interest.
4    If you have one of those elements in a very significant
5    and personal way, certainly personal as well as national
6    way, you hit that critical mass, fear, conflict,
7    compelling human interest.  If we think about the
8    depression, World War I, World War II, Vietnam, civil
9    rights movement, the women's movement, the cold war,
10    terrorism, fear, conflict, intellectual or physical,
11    compelling human interest, are present in one degree or
12    another.  When all three of them are present, as they are
13    post 9/11, as they were certainly in the cold war era,
14    certainly at times, you have the recipe for this new prism
15    through which we will view the world.
16    Well, it's interesting in this period of time, and I
17    noticed with interest how long many of you have been in
18    your jobs, I've been in Washington too long, more than 20
19    odd years now, but you know I remember well, and you
20    mentioned the documentary on Ronald Reagan, Reagan out
21    there stumping and bashing the government at that time, I
22    know that doesn't resonate with many of you.  You know, we
23    were talking about who is on the Potomac.  And I covered
24    six years of Reagan and his campaign in '84.  I was
25    overseas in 1980.  And what constantly struck me was the
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1    beating up, the pounding on government.  Because while it
2    resonated with the American public and while it made sense
3    to an extent, it was a great generalization, over
4    generalization in my mind, that did great damage as well
5    to the credibility of many people and many agencies that
6    were trying to get a job done.
7    And it became really almost a truism with the public as a
8    result of much of this, that the government can't do
9    anything right.  That led the way for budget cuts and
10    changes, obviously, although much wasn't changed.  But it
11    also added to a subtext of cynicism in America that had
12    been fostered, it's not a Republican or democrat thing,
13    but it was fostered by Vietnam, loss of credit, by
14    Watergate, loss of trust and finally by the thought that
15    the government couldn't do anything right.  And the
16    government was simply a monolith.  9/11 has had an impact
17    on that, and it combines with other forces in society and
18    events that people have absorbed.  But 9/11, and we have
19    seen this remarkable change in the polls, gave government
20    a purpose again.  A clear, demonstrable immediate purpose.
21    Defend me.  Protect me.  Figure out who mailed the anthrax
22    around.  Find them.  Stop them.  Find an antedote if there
23    is anthrax in a letter.  Find Osama Bin Laden.  Make sure
24    we won't have another World Trade Center terror.  If we
25    do, make sure that the rescue efforts operate quickly and
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1    efficiently.  We see this in the polls.  And I'm sure many
2    of you have seen the polls.  For the first time since the
3    late '60s, a majority of Americans now say that they trust
4    government enough to do the right thing most of the time.
5    But it's not a blank check, because if you go down into
6    some of these polls that have asked this question, Pugh,
7    Gallup and others, you'll find a divide between foreign
8    policy and domestic, so that it's a principally foreign
9    policy focused sentiment.
10    Nonetheless, I believe it presents you with what Bill
11    Moyers has called a teachable moment.  It presents all of
12    us with a teachable moment.  What are we as a society?
13    What is it that our government is here to do?  How does it
14    work?  And guess what?  People are paying attention.
15    I noticed in your media guy a reference to a Pugh survey
16    showing how little people are paying attention to the
17    news.  Well, they have done subsequent studies, and on
18    issues of terrorism and some international relations
19    related issues, as much as two-thirds of the public, I
20    believe the number was 68 percent, said they are paying
21    close attention or fairly close attention.  That is
22    unprecedented in the Pugh survey question of that sort.
23    So it really is a teachable moment and there really is
24    more trust in government so that people are paying more
25    attention to what it is that you, collectively, are doing.
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1    But it is not a blank check, which is why I think we see
2    the divide between international and domestic issues and
3    concerns and credibility.
4    And I think the legacy of challenging government,
5    questioning government, is also very much still alive and
6    resonant in people's minds.  One other thing you've got
7    going for you is it's always nice to have the misery.
8    It's always nice to have company.  And in recent months we
9    have seen such August institutions as the private sector,
10    Enron.  Marci Hilt told me there would be 3,000 people
11    here today, and she said that was based on a count from
12    Arthur Andersen.
13    (Laughter.)
14    But Enron, Arthur Andersen, things aren't going so great
15    in the private sector, in the markets now, in terms of
16    credibility and standing.  The Catholic church, as we know
17    all too painfully well, is in crisis and has its own
18    credibility crisis.  So people have been exposed recently
19    not only to the sort of upside of government, but the down
20    side of other institutions.  And I think that mostly it's
21    subliminal.  They have a sense that it's not just
22    government as a large institution that is challenged to be
23    efficient and honest and responsive and credible, but
24    other institutions have that as well.  Why, if we looked
25    closely, we might even find that in places in the media,
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1    but that's for another time.
2    This does present you with an opportunity to communicate,
3    to make your cases cogently and compellingly.  I want to
4    commend.  I mean, I just started leafing through this
5    communicators guide that you've got.  This is terrific
6    stuff.  I haven't seen this before.  But if you haven't
7    familiarized yourself with it, there is really fabulous
8    stuff in here and Marci and anybody who worked on this
9    should be commended, because I think it's very honest,
10    straightforward, easy to read and contains some great
11    points.  I might even glance at it myself before I teach
12    my courses.  Get in a jam for tonight's lecture, let's
13    open to page 47.
14    But here are a couple things.  I want to share some
15    practical information and some thoughts with you in terms
16    of getting a story on the air or in the press or whatever.
17    At CNN, my alma mater, we received 500 pages a day across
18    the fax machine for Washington events, speeches, news
19    conferences, hearings, show offs, show and tells, every
20    day.  500 pages.  So if you can write smaller or shorter,
21    I would recommend that.  But let's put it in perspective.
22    CNN has 15 reporters.  500 pages, 15 reporters.  Some
23    events can go on for 20 pages; they shouldn't.  But the
24    sell is a hard sell.  All news organizations have
25    experienced budget cuts and 9/11 doesn't get them off the
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1    hook.  CNN probably eliminated I would -- well, officially
2    it was 10 percent, I think it was probably closer to 12 to
3    15 percent of the jobs over the past year.  The New York
4    Times has had a 10 percent job reduction.  Time Magazine
5    here in Washington, they had a party recently for the
6    people who were taking buyouts and leaving, and 160 years
7    of experience were walking out the door that day.
8    Virtually every news organization, even People Magazine, I
9    was talking to people -- a reporter from People not too
10    long ago, and this person, as you can imagine, with great
11    sadness told me that their budget, their expense account
12    budgets had been cut to the point that they actually had
13    to ask for approval before they could take a source out to
14    lunch.  So if you don't mind rice and water, you might
15    suggest that to your reporter contacts and do a bit better
16    over lunch.  But the point is, the budget cuts have bitten
17    everywhere.  At the same time, as the explosion of
18    technology and the explosion of channels and the explosion
19    of news and information have taken people and ripped their
20    attention to shreds, I'm fond of saying, if you're not
21    born with attention deficit disorder, we'll teach it to
22    you.
23    (Laughter, ).
24    You know, it's the clicker, the Internet, the paper, the
25    news channel and if you're watching the news channels
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1    lately, we can talk about this later if you'd like, you've
2    got the anchor, who may or may not know anything about
3    what he or she is talking about, and the live bug, the
4    network bug, the crawl, the weather and stocks, and if you
5    touch the television you can check your blood pressure.
6    Now, if you watch for any length of time, it probably will
7    go up.  But this is a direct response to the fracturing of
8    the audience.  At CNN, we were told a year ago that if
9    they could figure out a way to get the average viewer to
10    stay on the channel for another 12 minutes a week, it's
11    about a minute and a half a day, that would put the
12    ratings up by 25 percent.  12 minutes a week, a minute and
13    a half a day.  That's why you see the crawl and the
14    weather and the sports and the stocks and all this junk on
15    the screen, because in this day and age, if I don't like
16    what you're telling me, if I'm not interested in the
17    Middle East and you're talking about the Middle East, my
18    remote control is in my hand.  I watch my children watch
19    television and it makes me crazy.  I get seasick.  They
20    are all over the place.  How can you do this?  Why watch
21    when there are so many things on.  So the idea is if I
22    don't like what you're telling me because I'm not
23    interested in the Middle East, something on the crawl will
24    catch my attention.  Maybe I'll focus on stocks for a
25    moment.  Maybe I'll stay that extra minute and a half
.
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1    because something else on the screen grabs my attention.
2    That's the world in which you're trying to make your pitch
3    and communicate your story.  Attention deficit disorder,
4    keep that in your head the whole time.
5    There are, though, I think certain important rules of the
6    road.  Let's come back to the whole issue I mentioned
7    before about the compelling story, the prism through which
8    we're viewing things.  I'm sure everyone is scrambling now
9    to put their story as much as possible and when credible
10    and relevant, as you should, in the context of the war on
11    terrorism, bioterrorism, national preparedness, that kind
12    of thing.  I would encourage you to do that.  That's where
13    people's minds are right now.  That's where editors' minds
14    are right no.  There is a gigantic rush to figure out what
15    to do for September for this one year anniversary.  How
16    far has the country done?  What's left to be done?  What
17    is the nature of the threat?  Are the hospitals prepared?
18    What have the fire services learned and on and on.  USDA,
19    food has taken on a security dimension, and the concerns
20    about the safety of the food supply, the vulnerability of
21    the food supply.  Those are relevant questions.
22    The problem with this, of course, is there are lots of
23    things, important things, that actually take place that
24    have nothing to do, and really can't be tied and shouldn't
25    be tied to this.  So the question is, how do you tell that
.
Page 23
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1    story?  And it's more challenging and you just have to
2    make it, I think, more poignant, because you have to cut
3    through the other stuff.  This can be pulled out of the
4    pages of 500 and get onto people's desks.
5    I noticed that some of this exists in your communicators
6    guide but I want to point out a couple things that I think
7    are often overlooked and underappreciated at the other end
8    of the telephone when I get a call from a communications
9    person or a press person at an agency.  First of all, I
10    think that -- I can't stress strongly enough that this
11    really is all about relationships.  If Marci has been
12    calling me down through the years and filling my head with
13    crap -- sorry, Marci.
14    (Laughter.)
15    Which she would never do, but if she has, when she calls,
16    you know, maybe I'll take the call and maybe I'll uh-huh,
17    write a few things down or make it sound like I'm writing
18    a few things down, and it just won't get anywhere.  If she
19    just calls out of the blue, but she knows I'm very, very
20    busy, she probably won't call out of the blue.  She will
21    send an e-mail with 3 or 4 very clear bullet points that
22    there is a good story brewing, and she will know how to
23    get to me.  She will know what I'm interested in as an
24    editor and she will now what my audience is interested in.
25    Our audience, where is it?  Two-thirds east of the
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Page 24
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1    Mississippi.  I don't know what that means about the west
2    coast, but that is a subject for another discussion.  But
3    if you know the audience, both the audience of your
4    contact and your contact, and you've got a reputation that
5    is built on a degree of knowledge and credible, it's a
6    gigantic advantage.
7    It really is fundamentally about credibility.  Without
8    getting overly personal here, again I'm working on this
9    project on Reagan now, which is fascinate, we're talking
10    to everybody.  I mean it's just been an unbelievable
11    experience.  I spent 40 minutes at the White House
12    yesterday with the President.  Nobody told him what to
13    say.  Well, that's not true, they briefed him before we
14    met.  But I haven't sought out Larry Speaks, who for years
15    was the press secretary of the President of United States.
16    Think about the last time you saw Larry Speaks on
17    television.  Larry Speaks is a virtual persona non grata
18    in the media for one simple reason:  He lost his
19    credibility and he made things personal.  And in the end,
20    especially if you're a political appointee, the reporters
21    will be around long after you're gone, and they will
22    remember.  It's built on relationship.  And it's built on
23    credibility.  And the reason that you do not see Larry
24    Speaks anywhere, ever commenting, not just on CNN or by
25    me, anywhere ever, is because he made it personal and it
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Page 25
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1    got nasty.  And he would lose his temper or he would
2    freeze someone out.  Now, remember the White House is
3    different.  It's a hot house.  But it's a very instructive
4    lesson.  But beyond that, his credibility.  You may recall
5    that, you know, he wrote after he left about making up
6    quotes.  Excuse me!  You know, that is your version of
7    plagiarism.  And it is, you know, punishable by the death
8    penalty in this world, which is no more face time or quote
9    time or almost none.
10    You can provide, without giving the store away, great
11    perspective, insight and honesty.  If you're doing talking
12    points, I can -- you know I know you're doing talking
13    points within the first 15 seconds of the phone
14    conversation.  I also recognize that to some extent you
15    should be and I expect you to be doing talking points
16    because you have a story you want to tell.  That's okay.
17    But if I say to you today or if I ask a question:  Why is
18    it raining outside and you say well, we planned it this
19    way, and it's not really rain, it's just... liquid
20    sunshine... and it's -- you won't get wet.  And believe
21    me, I've had this.  I have had this experience with
22    people.  It's not credible for you to say there are no
23    problems here, or there are no challenges here.  And
24    people do it.  It's unbelievable how they do it.
25    And there is something -- may I take issue with one thing
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1    in your little guide?  You say never talk to reporters off
2    the record.  I don't agree with that.  If you've got
3    relationships, going off the record or certainly on
4    background and deep background, is one of the most
5    valuable things for the reporter.  Again, presuming that
6    you've got the right relationship built and you trust the
7    reporter, I know that may sound like it's sort of
8    oxymorony, trust the reporter, I'm from the media and I'm
9    here to help.  But if there is a relationship there, and
10    there should be, and you have to size up your -- the
11    person you're talking to, just as they're going to size
12    you up, you know, but to provide them some context and
13    some background, whether it's on background, deep
14    background, off the record, you know all the different
15    shades of gray there, can be a tremendously valuable
16    thing; and as far as the reporter is concerned, will build
17    an invaluable relationship.  And there is a direct
18    correlation between the amount you go on background or off
19    the record and actually say what's going on, and the trust
20    and the credibility the reporter places in you.
21    Now, you may do that at your own parallel.  Because if
22    that is improperly used and it comes back to you, you
23    know, you may be renting umbrellas at the Washington
24    monument soon.  But the fact of the matter is that you've
25    got information that goes beyond your talking points.
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1    Talking points are transparent.  And they're frequently
2    resented because there are so many of them in Washington.
3    Use downtime to establish these relationships.  Trying to
4    have a relationship or get through or make a point in the
5    middle of a crisis, whether it's for the reporter or for
6    the communicator on the other end of the phone line is
7    necessary and it's important, but it's not sufficient.
8    The most valuable exchanges I've had with people, and I
9    brought people in to CNN all the time for editorial
10    boards, the most valuable sessions for background are
11    oftentimes off the record sessions.  We had the CIA or FBI
12    directors in.  We couldn't use cameras.  But in talking
13    about the decisionmakers in the organization, people who
14    edited scripts, people who decided what went on the
15    newscast, those were incredible opportunities.  First of
16    all, it allowed the person who is coming in to actually
17    explain some of the nuance and gradation of the story or
18    stories, to put the larger issues into a larger context,
19    and to pique the interest of the reporter, especially if
20    they could say here's how it affects your viewers or
21    people.  The closer that you can bring a story, especially
22    if it's an honest exchange like this, into the lives of
23    people.  All right.  We're sitting in the agriculture
24    department.  So take as an example, dairy price supports.
25    That sounds pretty boring.  But if it becomes about family
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1    farms, if it becomes about the price of milk, if it
2    becomes about how it's going to affect the consumer in
3    some fashion, it has a wider constituency.  The best way
4    to convey that can often be in these kind of background
5    sessions as part of a mix of a whole bunch of stories or a
6    bunch of things that are going on.
7    I would also say this:  You know, don't -- don't paper
8    over the problems internally as a public policy mix of
9    issues that you're facing.  I know this will come as a
10    shock to you, but reporters like conflict.  But so do
11    novelists, so do movie makers, so do consumers.  You want
12    to know where the pressure point is.  Who's the good guy,
13    who's the bad guy, who's going to win.  Sure there's some
14    of that, but the whole notion of good storytelling is
15    about having characters, so maybe it's the farmer whose
16    hanging on, making his last payment, the drought -- you
17    know, there is kind of a sense of suspense.  Or maybe it's
18    about an argument internally.  Look at how campaign
19    finance reform as an issue was reported.  Too often it was
20    reported as sort of a horse race, John McCain versus
21    George Bush.  But it provided, whether you like it or not,
22    it provided a framework to tell the story, a prism for
23    which to see the story.  So where you might use that to
24    your advantage to set up a more dramatic rendering,
25    without doing yourself or your story some harm, it might
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Page 29
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1    help you cut through where you might otherwise not cut
2    through.  I'm not suggesting hyping or propagandizing,
3    but I suggest that you be creative in recognizing the
4    story and recognize that your conflict -- that you should
5    never present conflict at your agency or whatever the
6    issue is.  I'm suggesting that if you do it well and
7    right, it can demonstrate a very vital debate internally
8    that can engage the public and engage the reporter, and
9    help you make the case or at least get across the point
10    you want to get across.
11    Finally this:  Remember, whether it's your story, your
12    agency, newspaper, radio, television, it's all about
13    ratings.  That if you don't get the eyeball, if you can't
14    get people's attention, it doesn't matter how good or how
15    interesting the story is.  And I'll tell you that most
16    people in the media today are, you know, cowards.  They
17    are totally nervous about where the viewers are and the
18    readers are.  If they are in online journalism they
19    haven't figured out how to make money and they are all on
20    borrowed time unless they figure that out.  If you're on
21    television, they know if you're not watching CNN, then
22    you're out watching Discovery, History or Fox.  The worst
23    thing is Fox.  CNN is living in fear.  So maybe the movie
24    is the "year of living dangerously."
25    But news professionals are disproportionately concerned
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1    with the bottom line and the ratings lines now, and that
2    is a big, big change.  Our motto at CNN in the early day,
3    when I joined in 1984, when if you called and you said you
4    were from CNN, people said is this the phone company?
5    Because they confused it with C and P.  That happened.
6    Remember the old C and P?
7    But we used to say news is the star.  The news isn't the
8    star.  The star is the star.  And that's part of the
9    interpretation of our news and our culture.  But part of
10    what is being done, like I said this 12 minutes a week to
11    try to grab and attract viewers.  It's all about ratings.
12    Your story is all about ratings, much more so in
13    television than print.  One of the interesting things of
14    9/11, it created a larger disparity in the quality of
15    journalism, print versus television.  I think print
16    journalism has gotten vastly better and it's really shown
17    its best side.  Television has gotten somewhat better, but
18    to me anyway it demonstrates the disparities between the
19    two.  Nonetheless, television is a phenomenal medium and
20    there is still television journalism out there.  So these
21    are some thoughts, fear, conflict, compelling human
22    interest, that's what makes a big story.  Relationships
23    between you and your news provider, between the news
24    source and the news provider.  Critical.  Credibility is
25    absolutely the cornerstone to this.  And it's not just,
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1    you know, it's not just our talking points, it's really
2    true.  You know, once burned, okay, twice burned, you
3    know, you're out of business.  And use the downtime.  Use
4    the downtime.  Now is a good time to be talking about what
5    you're going to be doing in September.  Now is a good time
6    to be talking about increase, as an example, border
7    bioterrorism steps.  That's a story you wouldn't have to
8    work very hard to pitch.  I'd like to stop now and just
9    take some of your questions.  And Marci, is there a
10    microphone we want people -- you've got the Mic.  I see
11    hands in the back.  You see -- you go to the hands and
12    I'll answer.  Because I can't see much of anything.
13    Thanks, Marci.
14    Could you identify yourself.
15    >> Lou Brosky.  I'm with the selective service system.
16    Although my question has nothing to do with that.
17    >> FRANK SESNO:  My son turned 18 and he has already done
18    his thing.  He is very proud of that.
19    >> Thank you very much.
20    >> FRANK SESNO:  You're welcome.  You can have him.  We
21    are proud of him, but you can have him.
22    >> The Bernie Goldberg book on liberal bias and the media,
23    did it have an impact on the news and should it have?
24    >> FRANK SESNO:  I'm glad you mentioned this.  This is the
25    class I'm going to teach in the call and I read Bernie's
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1    book and I think Bernie raises some good points.  Before I
2    say more, how many have read this book or seen parts of it
3    or heard of it?  Most of you.  How many of you think there
4    is a bias in the media?
5    (Showing of hands.)
6    Kind of -- Marci.  I know you were just holding up the Mic
7    for the next question.  Sure.  Bernie's book has had an
8    impact.  Bernie's book argues that the media have a
9    liberal bias and it clouds everything from planning
10    stories to executing stories and he has been persona
11    nongratis for writing it.  Bernie's book is not
12    researched.  It's entirely anecdotal.  It would have been
13    more powerful if he had researched it and documented.  And
14    there is research out there.  He chose not to do that.  So
15    he allowed mean in the media to dismiss his book.  You
16    talk to people at CBS and elsewhere, you can imagine the
17    reaction.  Bernie is on to something.  There is a bias in
18    the media.  I do not think it is only a liberal bias.
19    That exists in some places.  And I -- but I think there is
20    principally and most damaging, what I call, and maybe some
21    -- to some extent this has changed since 9/11, an
22    antiinstitutional bias.  You know it because your in the
23    government.  It's not democrat or Republican.  If you're a
24    politician and you make a proposal, frequently the stories
25    you see, and I've seen this on CNN, they started with a
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Page 33
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1    critic before they claimed a proposal itself.  It's like
2    the nuts and bolts of what you want to do.  Somehow it
3    doesn't matter.  But if we think about the viewer, what
4    the viewer wants to know is what is Senator Blowhard
5    proposing today and how does it affect my taxes and life?
6    The media are seen as scandal mongering, conflict hoarding
7    reporters, rather than reporters of fact.  Roger Ells
8    comes along and does:  We report you decide, fair and
9    balanced.  It's -- their code words, you know, for those
10    of you who think there is a liberal bias, come with us.
11    There is a liberal bias I think in some areas.  I do think
12    people who are in the media are disproportion -- we know
13    it, from certain surveys, tend to be disproportionately
14    liberal.  I do not believe that that necessarily means and
15    in most cases leads to a liberal tilt in reporting.
16    A good reporter is like a Judge.  The Judge presides at a
17    trial.  You know the Judge is going to have an opinion
18    about the guilt or innocence of the defendant.  But, if
19    they do their job, they're there to be sure that the rules
20    are followed and both sides get their say.  That's what a
21    good reporter, editor, publisher should do.  I think most
22    of them do, but a lot of them don't.  I also think, and
23    this is true, that the advent of CNN and cable news and
24    nonstop news drove print and the networks to think that
25    they have to be more interpretive in the way they present
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1    the news.  Because the presumption somehow is well, by the
2    time you get to the paper in the morning, or by the time
3    you get to the newscast at 6:30, you've heard it.  You've
4    read it on the net.  You've seen on it CNN.  I saw it in
5    radio.  And so at some level, sort of the old fashioned
6    who, what, when, where, why questions, were allowed to
7    diminish in reporting in favor of more interpretive
8    reporting, more angle and edge to the writing style.
9    At CNN, one of the things that they have done now is they
10    said find the debate in everything and get debating points
11    out there, engage the viewers.  Well, that leads to, you
12    know, more cross fire minutes than there are in an hour,
13    and it's wrong in my view.  At some level, in someplace,
14    you need to say here's what would say done today.  Here's
15    what happened today.  Here's what Senator McCain's
16    campaign finance Bill would change, or how it would work,
17    the other stuff's okay, too, but get to that first.  And I
18    think that has been diminished too much.  Bernie
19    Goldberg's book has not had the impact that it should have
20    had, because it's led to almost no reflection within the
21    news business.  And the news business needs to reflect.
22    And, you know, that's... I hope some of what some of us
23    can do from the outside a little bit.  But it has to be
24    done in different ways.
25    Yes, ma'am.
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1    >> I'm Pat McCartle.  I'm with the State Department,
2    formerly with USIA.  Those of us who are media officers in
3    our department training our senior officials and press
4    officers for on camera interviews and we prepare them to
5    stay on message, to have a sound bite ready, to try to get
6    it out during the interview.  And on Sunday afternoon I
7    like to listen to the talkers on C-SPAN, so I can work in
8    the garden and skip the commercials.  And as an official,
9    or press person, I was very pleased when I hear senior
10    officials doing what they're supposed to do.  But as a
11    citizen, I get very frustrated when the reporters don't
12    get a little more aggressive.  When clearly an official is
13    repeating their talking points and their sound bite over
14    and over again, and not answering the question.  And the
15    reporters on the majority of the talk show don't say flat
16    out, sir, are you refusing to answer my question?
17    >> FRANK SESNO:  You're full of crab, sir.
18    >> Well, something more polite.  But I get very frustrated
19    that they don't do that.  Maybe it's because they want the
20    person back on the show.
21    >> FRANK SESNO:  Yeah.
22    >> But I find it very frustrating as a citizen that the
23    reporters aren't more confrontational and I'd like your
24    comments on that.
25    >> FRANK SESNO:  Well, I think you don't know what you're
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Page 36
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1    talking about.
2    (Laughter.).
3    You want confrontation, I can give it to you.  I agree
4    with you.  I'm sure many of you have been reporters or
5    you've done the TV thing, you know what it's like maybe to
6    have a producer in your ear, you go into an interview with
7    an official or something.  There are a lot of reasons,
8    some of them are ugly.  There's a lot of laziness in the
9    media, and if the people aren't well enough informed, they
10    don't know where to push.  I can tell you from experience
11    that, you know, there are anchors who really aren't very
12    well informed.  And they will get questions from someone
13    who has done a preinterview or a book or something like
14    that and they can be embarrassing question, just so
15    simple.
16    I also think there is a technique to it, a style, there is
17    a way of doing it, so that you can press a guest but not
18    piss off an audience.  Because if you come across as the
19    reporter as disrespectful, and I don't think enough
20    reporters know how to do that.  I interviewed President
21    Bush, 41, two days before the election in 1992.  Let's
22    just say he wasn't in the best of moods.  It was the last
23    television interview he did, because if you recall
24    Lawrence Welsh had just indicted Casper Weinberger and
25    made some wrong last minute contraswoops just before the
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Page 37
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1    election and this was the first time someone was going to
2    sit down with President Bush and have an opportunity to
3    really ask him.  And the whole question about what did
4    Bush know about the Iran contra and what was out there.  I
5    did that.  At one point he leaned across and he said
6    Frank, are we going to talk about anything else and that's
7    an awkward moment.  And as a reporter and as a person,
8    that, you know, is a little uncomfortable.  So I think
9    people can shy from that.  They do want their sources
10    back.  There's too much of that.  I think that's another
11    reason.
12    And as I say, often they're pressed for time and so the
13    question and the decision you have to make as you're
14    going, as you're doing one of these interviews, is:  Do I
15    stay here and push for the follow-up a second, a third, a
16    fourth time, badgering the witness, or do I try to cover
17    more material here and do you think more about the
18    headline you're trying to make, the news you're trying to
19    squeeze out, the viewer at the other end or the guest in
20    the chair?  I think it's useless to have someone sit down
21    for talking comes, it's not credible to come back for a
22    second or third pass.  I know they know what I'm going to
23    ask and that they have been briefed and they have had
24    their talking points.  The most interesting response often
25    is in the follow-up, the second, third, fourth question.
.
Page 38
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1    But you have to have some familiarity with the material,
2    you have to be confident in your interviewing style and
3    you have to not care so much if you're -- if you do it
4    right, your adversary, the person sitting in the chair,
5    your interview guest, whatever you want to call them,
6    they're not going to be angry.  They're big boys and
7    girls; they do this stuff all the time.  But I agree with
8    you, I think there's too much of that.  There are too many
9    free passes.  I also think that at the other end, there
10    are too many people who are asking the questions, you
11    know, it's about them and not about the discussion.  Too
12    many reporters are given these days I think more by ego
13    than curiosity.  And if it's all about curiosity, I think
14    that will come across well to an audience.
15    Did I answer your question?
16    >> Last question.
17    >> FRANK SESNO:  Last question.  I'll be shorter.  Sorry.
18    >> Good morning.  I'm Evette Jardine, from the Department
19    of Transportation.  Actually, my question is not related
20    to transportation or government.  But why is it today and
21    I'm speaking specifically about Ted Koppel.  He wrote a
22    book, I guess last year, and it was -- it had very
23    disparaging comments of Bill Clinton.  Whether you like
24    the man or not, he is still the former President.  And
25    Bill -- Ted Koppel is still an anchor.  And it had -- and
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1    I thought that he interjected an opinion that should not
2    have been made public, because he still is in the media.
3    He still has -- he represents the media, and I thought the
4    media was supposed to be unbiased.
5    >> FRANK SESNO:  Ha!
6    (Laughter.)
7    Well, you know, you and I are purists, I guess, and we're
8    increasingly sort the on the outs.  I think it's
9    nappropriate.  There was a recent flap, maybe you
10    followed it.  I followed it with great interest, where Lou
11    Dobbs was beating up on the government because of its
12    pursuit of Arthur Andersen.  Well, I don't really give a
13    damn of what Lou Dobbs thinks about that, it's not his job
14    to be passing judgment because then that raises questions
15    about the interview he does with someone from Arthur
16    Andersen or the government or anyone else.  I come back to
17    my analogy of the Judge.  He should be the Judge.  If he
18    has a jury box full of people and he says this guy really
19    does look pretty guilty; in fact, I think he is a sleaze.
20    Well, he should be fired.  There was a time when we don't
21    do this, I think this is one of biggest problems facing
22    journalism today.  You stand out on the White House lawn
23    as a reporter, and then you go to a Sunday show and you
24    say I think the President really mishandled this thing.
25    I'm not doing this anymore the same way, so I feel like
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1    I've got a bit of a luxury of doing this.  So I still try
2    to be careful about the difference between commentary and
3    analysis.  Analysis, I share the two sides and say one may
4    appear more persuasive.  Commentary is I think the
5    President is dumb or I think he is doing a great job.  I
6    think one of the biggest problems that we have got is this
7    issue that you raised.  I think it's contributed to the
8    great loss of trust among the public in the media,
9    especially the television media.  But it happens to some
10    extent in print of the I've been surprised in the New York
11    Times in the copy, especially in the last election cycle,
12    they put in nasty digs in at George Bush, whether they are
13    merited or not is not the point.  But this again is part
14    of a calculation that the culture has changed, and that if
15    you're going to have readers and you're going to have
16    viewer, you've got to have edge to everything.  That's
17    fine.  But put it on the edge page.  And don't call the
18    edge reporter the reporter reporter.
19    But, you know, maybe that's why I'm going to be at George
20    Mason University now.
21    Now, can I do a plug?  Can I do one plug?  Oh, good.  If
22    any of you are out in Fairfax Virginia this evening with
23    nothing to do at 7:30 I'm conducting a symposium this
24    evening at GMU, which we are entitling "global war,
25    national security and nonstop news.  Are the media up to
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1    the job?"  I've got a panel of five people, including the
2    New York Times Media critic; Vicki Duvall, the general
3    counsel on the Senate Intelligence Committee; Jenny
4    McIntyre; and Chris Schroeder, the CEO of the Washington
5    Post.  Newsweek interactive, the effect that the online
6    journalism has, whether it makes money, it's a shot heard
7    around the world, and we will take up this issue I hope in
8    aggressive ways.  So if you're around and you're not
9    exhausted by the end of this conference or you've got an
10    18 year old kid you want to get out of the House.  7:30.
11    >> One last question.
12    >> FRANK SESNO:  One last question.
13    >> Hi.  I'm Vickie Lowen.  I'm with the Internal Revenue
14    Service.  I know there is a great diverse amount of people
15    here from foreign countries, different cultures and
16    backgrounds.  But regarding perspectives on different
17    communication, I think there is a significant cultural
18    issue involved.  Cultural issues are a very important
19    dynamic that is integrated into the way that we
20    communicate with each other.  How you were raised, what
21    your belief systems are, and what you currently feel in
22    today's society all effects how we communicate with each
23    other.  But at the same time, there is also a deaf
24    community out there.  I was looking in the brochures and
25    packets that you offered today.  Some of the statements
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1    that were in there saying that the word "deaf" is
2    considered negative.  But from my cultural perspective,
3    that is a very positive thing to say, because a person who
4    is culturally deaf, the notion of being disabled does not
5    apply to our community.  It's a cultural issue.  And so to
6    call somebody deaf is actually a very positive thing.  To
7    say someone is hearing-impaired or has a hearing loss
8    doesn't necessarily -- does not necessarily define the
9    cultural community at hand, and it doesn't make clear the
10    cultural distinction versus the physical disabilities that
11    some people experience.  And so I just wanted to make
12    clear today that the cultural issues involved today with
13    deafness are separated from issues of hearing loss, which
14    is indicated in the folder today.
15    >> FRANK SESNO:  Thank you.  Just very briefly, I would
16    agree with you in the sense that -- you just made the best
17    argument I can think of for diversity in the newsroom.
18    And whether it's about deafness or any other disability,
19    whether it's about race or demography or national origin,
20    the best way to guard against the misuse of words and
21    labels is to have the broadest understanding, which often
22    means most contact or experience with them.  So I would
23    say that when we speak of diversity as an asset, we are
24    not merely talking about racial or ethnic diversity, but
25    we're talking about all kinds of such things.  And as a
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1    reassurance to you, I have a sister with a developmental
2    disability, and we are in the process of making a video on
3    the agency that houses her.  It's up in Connecticut.  And
4    the message of the video that we are making is that every
5    person can and should live to their potential.  It's been
6    my experience that my contact with her and the people she
7    lives with, as you say, gives you a whole different
8    perspective on the labels that are often misused.  So I
9    thank you for your point.
10    I thank you for being here.
11    (Applause.)
12    >> CAROL HARVEY:  I wanted to thank Frank for meeting with
13    federal communicators today and we're presenting him with
14    a pad for taking notes, with the government seal on it.
15    Just to remind you of all of us.
16    (Laughter.)
17    Thank you.
18    (Applause.)
19    We'd like to show you now one example of a very brief
20    video dealing with federal employment, to help federal
21    employees feel proud of who they are and what they're
22    doing.  And to let other people know that this is
23    something that is worth joining us in the effort.
24    This particular video was prepared by the Office of
25    Personnel Management for an event with the senior
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1    executive service on the President at constitution hall.
2    It's only 4 minutes long.  And we have another one in the
3    works that was delivered too late last night to get here
4    this morning, that includes general schedule employees as
5    well as SES members.  But we wanted to show this to you as
6    a kind of example as to what we can do as communicators.
7    (Video.)
8    >> I love my job.
9    >> The world is a better place for people.
10    >> The best thing about my job is helping American people.
11    >> I believe that America wants to be the best society on
12    earth.  And I really want to help get us there.
13    >> More people are being treated, more people are being
14    cured directly as a result of the research that is
15    conducted by my agency.
16    >> To have the opportunity to have an impact on the rest
17    of the community, to make up day-to-day excited about what
18    I'm doing, to know that it's ever changing, that it's
19    interesting, that it's fun and exciting, to know that
20    you're working in an area where there is a sense of
21    comrade de, there is a sense of family and purpose.  I
22    think over the 17 year, the reason why I never left
23    federal employment and decide oh let's go work for this
24    corporation or let's go work for that law firm is because
25    I've got it all.
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1    >> I the kind of work that we want to do, that we want to
2    be part of, that we want to invite others to be part of,
3    that's part of our challenge.
4    >> To have passion, you have to care deeply about what
5    you're doing to be successful.  When you think about the
6    actual impact that we have on the lives of the American
7    people, it's tremendous.  It's a tremendous
8    responsibility, but also that's what makes us love our
9    jobs because that's really what the bottom line is.
10    >> You have to be a leader.  You have to be a role model.
11    You have to set the example.  You have to be able to
12    communicate.  You have to be able to make yourself open to
13    your people.  It takes background knowledge about
14    technology, about budget, about politics.  If you want to
15    have a positive impact on what goes on in this country,
16    then you want to be in the federal government.
17    >> I'm extremely lucky.  I assume other managers are as
18    well and that people are concerned and dedicated to what
19    we are trying to do as a federal agency and also as a
20    government.  And they're not afraid to do whatever it
21    takes to get the job done.
22    >> We are making this a better place for all of us to
23    live.  And that's something that you can't get anywhere
24    else.  There is no question about it.
25    >> I enjoy what I do every day.  I love the challenge of
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1    coming to do this kind of work.
2    >> We make a difference in people's lives.
3    >> We have to think about our children, future
4    generations.  And often the global perspective.
5    >> To continue the knowledge and continue to push the
6    boundary of where we are today.  That is incredibly
7    rewarding.
8    >> Where else can you come to work and do a job which is
9    for all of the American people, which can contribute to
10    the welfare, which can make a difference not only to the
11    United States itself, but to the entire world?
12    >> These are just a few of the many faces of leadership,
13    especially during this time of crisis, which our nation's
14    resolve is being tested.  Your professionalism,
15    commitment, strength and courage are an inspiration.  We
16    are one team.  Working for America.
17    >> I'm working for America.
18    >> I work for America.
19    >> I'm working for America.
20    >> I work for America.
21    >> I'm working for America.
22    >> I work for America.
23    >> I'm working for America.
24    (End of video.)
25    (Applause.)
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1    >> CAROL HARVEY:  As you can see, we're running late.  So
2    let's take a short break and return back here at 5 after
3    10:00.
4    (Break.)
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