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USA TODAY correspondent shares life lessons

Richard Benedetto

A White House correspondent for USA TODAY said May graduates should remember three key lessons he learned long ago: politicians are people too, always be fair and be civil and respectful. 
“I hope you take them with you as you head into your careers,” Richard Benedetto told the students and their families. “Your futures are bright. West Virginia University has prepared you well.”

Benedetto has reported on government and politics on the local, state and national levels for the past 35 years. His memoir of his long reporting career, “Politicians Are People, Too,” was published in April 2006 by University Press of America. He combined family stories and stories from years as a White House correspondent to drive home his three major lessons for the day, which are also reflected in his book.

“I have written many words over the long course of my 35 years as a report. Maybe millions,” he said. “But the most important words I remember are not those I have written, but words spoken to me by my parents and grandparents, teachers and college professors and some very wise editors I worked for early in my career.”

Benedetto said students should remember that journalists should “not all be Pollyannas and look at the world through rose-colored glasses,” but provide balance and a fuller picture and stop being cynical.

Benedetto also said that journalists should always be fair and remember that their reputation is everything.

And the most important lesson Benedetto learned was from his grandfather, an Italian immigrant with little formal education. His grandfather taught him to respect politicians and others.

“Civility at all times… As a reporter, you can disagree, without begin rude. You can be critical, without being discourteous. You can be tough, without being boorish. You can point out wrongdoing, without being snide or nasty and without seeming to revel in the fate that might befall a politician in trouble.”

A native of Utica, N.Y., Benedetto began his journalism career with the Buffalo, (N.Y.) Evening News, and held government reporting positions with the Utica (N.Y.) Daily Press and Observer-Dispatch. He also worked in the Albany, N.Y., bureau of Gannett News Service, covering state government/politics during the Gov. Hugh Carey administration.

He is a founding member of USA TODAY, joining the newspaper in Washington, D.C., in 1982, prior to its debut. He wrote the paper’s first front-page cover story on its initial day of publication. USA TODAY is now the nation’s largest-selling newspaper.

In addition to reporting on the White House and national politics, he writes a weekly political column for the Gannett News Service which serves the Gannett Co. Inc.’s 91 daily newspapers. The column also appears on the USATODAY.com website.

He has covered the administrations of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and now George W. Bush. He also has covered every presidential campaign since 1984.

Benedetto received his bachelor’s from Utica College of Syracuse University and holds an master’s in Journalism from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communication. Syracuse University awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1992.

Benedetto has lectured at colleges and universities across the country and has received numerous journalism awards. He was honored in 1998 with the National Italian-American Foundation Media Award for his projection of a positive image for Italian-Americans.

Benedetto Speech

Thank you all very much. Dean Reed, thank you. Members of the Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism faculty and administration, distinguished guests, parents, friends, family, and most important – the Class of 2006 – thank you for the warm welcome to this great university. I am honored to be here. And I am thankful that after listening to thousands of political speeches over my long career, it is now my turn to speak. 
But I almost didn’t make it. I spent last night at Bent Willie’s and it was tough getting up this afternoon.

I want to thank the mothers and fathers of the graduates for the sacrifices you have made and the love you have shown to your children. I want to thank the faculty for your hard work and dedication. And I want to congratulate the Class of 2006 for getting the job done.

Now, I would like to borrow a few words from a commencement speech President Bush made last week at Oklahoma State University. I won’t try to do the Texas accent – too tough for a kid from Upstate New York. But he said, and I quote:

“Some of you are graduating with honors that involved much sacrifice and achievement. Others perhaps spent a little less time in the library and more time at Bent Willie’s. For all of you, I bring a message of great hope: There is life after English Comp. Someday, you’ll appreciate what you’ve learned here, you’ll make your teachers proud. I know the professors who taught me English – (now remember this is Bush speaking) – marvel at my way of words.”

The president went on to say in his Oklahoma State speech, “The last few months before graduation are busy ones. Amid all the excitement, there’s one thing that probably eluded a few of you: You haven’t had time to find a job. I speak for your parents when I say: Now is the time to start looking. Some good news for you: The job market for college graduates is the best it’s been in years. This economy of ours is strong and so you’ll have more jobs to choose from than previous classes, and your starting salaries will be higher. And the opportunities beyond are only limited by the size of your dreams.”

Now we will go back to my words. The president is right. Despite pockets of high unemployment and sky-high gas prices, the economy is basically sound. It is especially so for college graduates like yourselves with the skills to fill the jobs this early part of the 21st Century offers.

I have written many words over the long course of my 35 years as a reporter. Maybe millions . But the most important words I remember are not those I have written, but words spoken to me by my parents and grandparents, teachers and college professors and some very wise editors I worked for early in my career. Those editors I learned under did not have a political agenda to advance. They didn’t want to scare readers and viewers into thinking the world was about to end. And they did not want to tear down people in power. Their goal was to report the news fully and fairly and help make me the best and most honest reporter I could be. Sadly editors like that are a shrinking breed, and reporters coming up in the business are all the poorer for it.

But there is hope. It lies in you. If some of you get to be managers as you go out into the world of mass media, remember that you are role models and mentors to those in your charge. Reporters, ad writers, producers and publicists, I don’t care how skilled they are, are only as good as the managers who are willing and able to make them.

Now comes my time for shameless promotion. I have written a book – “Politicians Are People, Too” – which has just been released. It is a memoir of my 35-year reporting career, spanning the spectrum of covering political figures from mayors and town council members to governors, presidents and heads of state throughout the world. But to me, the most important part of the book is not the anecdotes I recount about meeting with and reporting on Ronald Reagan, Bill and Hillary Clinton, the two Bushes and some celebrities such as Paul Newman and Frank Sinatra, but the lessons I learned along the way – lesions I want to pass along to aspiring journalists, broadcasters and media magnates like yourselves.

The first lesson is the book’s title – Politicians are people too.

If you are going to be a reporter of government and politics, you had better like politicians as a class. If you don’t, you will never be able to report on them fairly. Besides, what a dreary job it would be if you had to go out every day and meet and record the actions of people you don’t like. Certainly, there are bad politicians out there who deserved to be exposed. There are some bad journalists out there, too. Indeed, part of your job as a journalist is to act as a watchdog on government and point out when things go wrong. But another part of your job as a journalist is to present the public with information – fairly and fully – so readers and viewers can get a broad picture of what is happening – not just the one that you want to give them. That means, it is just as important to report on politicians who do things right as it is to expose politicians who do things wrong. Otherwise, the public gets an unclear picture of its government – i.e. they think it is totally incompetent or corrupt, and that all politicians are bums. If you have that view – let me tell you from the perspective of reporting on politics and politicians for 35 years – it is wrong. That inaccurate views stems from too many negative stories about government and few positive ones. That is a problem in our business today. We don’t report much good news on government and politics. There’s an old adage that says, bad news sells. I don’t buy it. I think there is a hunger out there among the public for some good news, too. I know because of the response I get from readers when I write something positive. I am not saying we should all be Pollyannas and look at the world though rose-colored glasses, I am saying that we need a little more balance to provide the fuller picture. And we need to stop being cynical about politics.

The second lesson is fairness.

Politicians don’t expect you to write only favorable stories about them. They would like it, but they don’t expect it. They have been around the block a few times and they know that taking their lumps in the media is part of the game, a big part of the game. What makes politicians angry, and causes them to slam the door in your face when you come to call, is a feeling that you have not treated them or reported about them fairly. As aspiring journalists, you should know that your reputation is everything. Don’t pull punches, but treat politicians fairly. Get their side of the story. Put the story into context. And when you are reporting the words of critics that are unusually harsh, always make sure those criticisms are on the record with names attached to them. It is not the journalist’s job to allow anonymous sources to take shots without standing behind them.

Don’t get me wrong. Anonymous sources are important. At their best, they are used to help bring to light things public officials might be hiding and the public needs to know. But at the same time, reporters should never lose sight of the fact that the reason why we perform that watchdog function is not to tear governments down and undermine public confidence in them. It is to point out wrongdoing so that that it can be corrected and governments can work better. The goal is better government, not another notch in the gunslinging reporter’s belt.

Also under the heading of fairness, comes an important lesson I learned from an editor I encountered early in my career. He said to me, “Remember one thing: Every name you type into your story has a real, live person attached to it.” It was a simple, but startling concept. Of course the names are attached to real people. But in our eagerness to get the story into print, we see those names as just words, and fail to consider how the persons and their families will react to what we say about them, especially if we are connecting them to wrongdoing, or holding them up for ridicule for mistakes. My editor was not saying I should go easy on them. He was saying that if I was going to be reporting something negative about a person, I had better be sure it needs saying, that it is correct and that the person has been offered a chance to defend himself or herself. That’s all. Be fair. It won’t ruin the story. It will be the truth.

A third and final lesson is civility and respect.

My grandfather, an Italian immigrant with little formal education, but a man as wise and as smart as any I have known, taught me to have respect for politicians. He came to this country at age 13, and a few years later joined the U.S. Army and fought and earned the Purple Heart in France during World War I. One Saturday afternoon back in 1952, when I was 10 years old, I was returning home from the matinee at the neighborhood movie house. I stopped at my grandfather’s flower shop to excitedly report on the cowboy movies I saw. But before I got to offering a summary of the films, I had a burning question to ask. I was puzzled by the scattered booing that broke out in the movie audience when the newsreel flashed the image of President Harry Truman on the screen. At 10 years old, I knew nothing about politics. I knew that Truman was the president and that the presidency was a very important office, and that’s about all. So I asked my grandfather why people booed President Truman. He stiffened, as if I had slapped him in the face, pulled himself to his full height and turned to me. He jerked his right arm straight out and menacingly pointed his index finger toward my nose.

“You didn’t boo, did you?” he asked in a loud angry voice

Shocked and a little frightened, I took one step back and timidly answered, “N-n-n-no.” 
“Good!” he replied, still thrusting that finger toward me. “You Don’t Boo The President of the United States!” He said it slowly, emphasizing each word with a downward stroke of his arm, as if he was driving a large nail into a hard piece of wood.

At the time, I took him literally. You don’t boo the president of the United States. It’s against the rules. Period. And I didn’t. But over time, I realized that what he was really saying was that as a citizen you should have respect for the office of the presidency, or any other high elective office, even if you don’t like the job the occupant is doing. More than 50 years ago, he was instructing me that there is a certain level of dignity and restraint you should use when being critical. Civility at all times. Anything less, he was telling me, was demeaning to our system. He was right. As a reporter, you can disagree without being rude. You can be critical, without being discourteous. You can be tough, without being boorish. You can point out wrongdoing, without being snide or nasty and without seeming to revel in the fate that might befall a politician in trouble

I wish my grandfather had lived to see me cover the White House and the office of president of the United States. I have criticized those presidents I have covered, but I never booed them – openly or in print.

So there you have my three lessons – politicians are people too – fairness – civility and respect. I hope you take them with you as you head into your careers. Your futures are bright. West Virginia University has prepared you well. Congratulations on your great achievement and may the blessings of God go with you.