Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Philip J. (P.J.) Crowley was at Emerson College today. He met journalism students for an informal question and answer session.
He started the discussion with comments about the role of free press in a progressive society. “The presence of a effective, relatively objective, free press…is an essential element of a functioning democracy,” said P.J. Crowley. Most of the students at the session were graduate journalism students and they were quick to pick on Crowley’s comments.
“You mentioned the importance of a free press,” said Michail Vafeiadis, a graduate journalism student from Greece. “What about the state department calling up New York Times and asking them to withhold information in the Raymond Davis case?” At this point the Assistant Secretary raised his hand and said laughingly, “that was me.”
Crowley said people must look at the situation in full context and it was important to hide that information for the safety of an American citizen. He said this is neither the first time the state department has asked news organizations to withhold information, nor will it be the last.
“When lives are in jeopardy we will request news organizations to withhold information,” said Crowley.
Students from Nigeria, UK, Turkey, Afghanistan and the United States asked questions on a range of topics. The most prominent of them being the developing situation in Libya. Crowley said the world was looking at history in the making and compared the current middle east situation to the fall of Soviet Russia. He emphasized that “the movements in the middle east are highly indigenous” and that they are not about America and not about Al-Qaeda.
When one student suggested better mannered staff at US immigration checkpoints, Crowley laughed out heartily. “There are some things I have some influence over,” said the Assistant Secretary of State. “And immigration/border control is not one of them but I understand your point.”
From Massachusetts himself, P.J. Crowley mentioned Ed Harding, an Emerson graduate and an anchor for News Center5, as a close friend of his. He said he will tell Harding that he had visited Emerson and would be more than happy to visit Emerson again.
