Making Headlines in the Media - The University of Scranton

Mr. Gibbons poses
a question to then
President Clinton
during a White
House Conference.
Gene Gibbons ’64, H’96
F O R ME R C H I E F W H I T E H O U S E
C O R R E S P O N D E N T, R E U T E R S
Politics and
the Press
Gerald Ford is a down-to-earth ordinary
Joe; Jimmy Carter – intense and deeply religious.
Ronald Reagan is very detached and
George Bush, Sr., has a terrific sense of
humor. Bill Clinton squandered an enormous
talent. These are the observations of
Gene Gibbons ’64 H’96, who got to know
several American presidents during a career
that spanned three decades reporting on the
White House.
M r. Gibbons began covering Wa s h i n g t o n
politics as a correspondent for United Pre s s
International (UPI) in 1969. He worked for
U PI until 1985, serving as the White Ho u s e
C o r respondent for UPI Radio before becoming
the Chief White House correspondent for
Reuters from 1985 to 1997.
Although Mr. Gibbons cove red the
Watergate story, he became most familiar with
the presidents who served after the scandal.
“Not all were like their public images,”
he says.
Ac c o rding to Mr. Gibbons, Pre s i d e n t
C a rter struggled greatly with the morals of an
issue. He believes that President Cart e r’s contributions
to the good of humanity, especially
those made after the pre s i d e n c y, are gre a t l y
u n d e restimated.
M r. Gibbons also believes Pre s i d e n t
Clinton to be the most brilliant of the pre s i-
dents that he has known. “Un f o rt u n a t e l y, he
is also the most self-indulgent and undisciplined,”
he adds.
“ President Bush (senior) is ve ry friendly and
has quite a sense of humor,” says Mr. Gi b b o n s .
President Bush joked with him about his
dislike for broccoli; Mr. Gibbons wrote a
s t o ry about it. The rest is history.
M r. Gi b b o n s’ proudest moment, howe ve r,
did not invo l ve covering a story, but serving as
a panelist in the final debate of the 1992 pre s i-
dential election. (His second pro u d e s t
moment was addressing the 1996 Un i ve r s i t y
of Scranton commencement and receiving an
h o n o r a ry degree.) He is quite re ve rent about
his responsibility to pose re vealing questions
that would help the American people make an
informed decision re g a rding their next leader.
Helping inform Americans is something
M r. Gibbons continues to do to this day as
the Deputy Di rector and Managing Editor of
Stateline.org. Funded by the Pew Charitable
Trusts, Stateline.org is an Internet publication
founded to encourage and support enhanced
c overage of state governments. Journalists and
the general public use the free site.
“The need for this service stems from the
consolidation of the newspaper industry and
an abdication from responsibility to cove r
state government,” says Mr. Gi b b o n s .
It is also the result of the availability of a
n ew medium – the Internet.
“The In t e r n e t’s strength is its quickness
and ability to find specific information, which
is also its downfall,” explains Mr. Gi b b o n s .
“ On the We b, you only see what you are
i n t e rested in. You miss the opportunity to be
pulled into a fascinating story that can happen
with a newspaper or magazine.”
Ac c o rding to Mr. Gibbons, each medium
has its strengths and we a k n e s s e s .
“Wo rds have a power that is unequalled by
sound and pictures,” says Mr. Gibbons, who
has worked in radio, television (part of his
U PI duties) and print. “TV is not a writer’s
medium. The pictures are powe rful and distract
from the word s . ”
M r. Gi b b o n s’ first exposure to multiple
media occurred at the Un i ve r s i t y. The En g l i s h
major wrote for the Aq u i n a sand for the
Un i ve r s i t y’s literary magazine. He also serve d
as the general manager of the Un i ve r s i t y’s
radio station, W U S V- F M .
The Scranton native believes his education
and his training as a ROTC cadet at
The University of Scranton prepared him
well for his career.
“I am enormously fortunate for my care e r,
and I credit the inspiration that I re c e i ved to
teachers like Professor Ma t t h ew O’Ro u rk e
a n d William J. Devlin, S.J., who encouraged
my intellectual curiosity,” says Mr. Gi b b o n s .
As a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army,
he served in Korea. As a journalist, his
career took him to over 70 countries and
six continents.
“The one thing that I learned at the
Un i versity that has served me well is the ability
to draw a conclusion from the facts,” says
M r. Gi b b o n s .
Regardless of the medium, you can’t
underestimate that message.
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