A roundtable conference of politicians, representatives of the media and formerpresidential administration members met yesterday morning to discuss terrorism and the press in a public event hosted by the Critical Incident Analysis Group in a partnership with the Miller Center for Public affairs.
The conference, held at the Miller Center, was moderated by Margaret Warner, of PBS's NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.
"I wanted to bring out from the people around the table insights on how they handled unexpected incidents of the past," Warner said.
The 19 person panel was internationally represented with Tom Kelly, the press secretary for British Prime Minisiter Tony Blair, as well as Lord John Alderdice, Northern Ireland General Assembly speaker.
Other panelists included former State Department spokesman Hodding Carter, former Presidential press secretaries Ron Nessen and Jerry terHorst, Jim Angle of Fox News, former U.S. ambassador to Kuwait Nat Howell and Richard Kerr, former deputy director of the CIA, among others.
The wide-range of panelist credentials allowed for a larger scope for dialogue, explained George H. Gilliam, director of the Miller Center Forum.
The conference was held "specifically in response to terrorist attacks," Gilliam told the audience.
In the first session of the discussion panelists presented historic terrorist incidents they had been involved in as case studies in press and government relations. Discussions topics ranged from issues in the Ford Administration to more recent events such as the anthrax scare and the Oklahoma City bombings.
The second session of the conference included an open floor discussion on the nature of the relationship between the public, the press and the government.
Much of the discussion centered around the effects of 24 hour news coverage on policymakers.
"We now have, in effect, reality television. You're in a goldfish bowl, everything you do is being watched," Tom Kelly told the panel. "In government these days you come to be much more disciplined in giving what I call a 'running commentary'."
Panelists also discussed how best to reach the public when dealing with crisis situations.
"It's important to have a national message," said Frank J. Cilluffo, associate vice president for Homeland Security at George Washington University. Cilluffo called for using "different messengers with different messages that hit home at cultural norms."
For students, information provided at the conference is not only relevant to their current life but also to their future, Warner said.
"There's a strong likelihood that [students] will live through another terrorist event," Warner said. "Even if we're fortunate enough to not have another terrorist event, we live in a time where we anticipate it."
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