Note: Obama comes on at 20 minute mark of this video.

Obama rails against vulgar politics in speech at Syracuse University event

By Mark Weiner | mweiner@syracuse.com

WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Barack Obama used a Syracuse University event here Monday night to condemn the “divisive and often vulgar rhetoric” that has taken hold in politics, and called on journalists and all Americans to help reverse the trend.

“The No. 1 question I am getting as I travel around the world or talk to world leaders right now is: What is happening in America — about our politics?” Obama said in a keynote speech at a national journalism prize event hosted by SU.

“And it’s not because around the world people have not seen crazy politics; it is that they understand America is the place where you can’t afford completely crazy politics,” Obama said.

Obama talked for more than 30 minutes about the increasingly caustic tone of political campaigns, and lamented the loss of substantive fact-based reporting in a news industry pressured by the forces of changing technology,

“I believe that for all the side shows of the political season, Americans are still hungry for the truth, it’s just hard to find,” Obama told more than 450 people packed into the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium here for the annual Toner Prize ceremony sponsored by SU’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

“Ultimately I recognize the news industry is an industry, it’s a business,” Obama said, but he implored those in the news business to dedicate more resources that contribute to a “well-informed electorate.”

The president said news organizations should have “higher aspirations” to inform the public.

“Good reporters like the ones in this room all too frequently find yourselves caught between competing forces,” Obama said. “I’m aware of that. You believe in the importance of a well-informed electorate. You’ve staked your careers on it. Our democracy needs you more than ever. You’re under significant financial pressures, as well.”

Among those in attendance were prominent media and political figures, including White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, New York Times Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr., and ESPN broadcaster Mike Tirico, a Newhouse graduate and member of the SU Board of Trustees.

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