Edgar lends insider's view

May 07, 1999

News Service
Southern Illinois University
Carbondale, IL 62901-6915 618.453.2276
Sue Davis, Director
suedavis@siu.edu

Edgar lends insider's view

CARBONDALE, Ill. -Former Illinois Governor Jim Edgar spoke to students in two classes-journalism and political science-at Southern Illinois University Carbondale on May 6.

Michael J. Lawrence, formerly Edgar's press secretary and now a professor and associate director at SIUC's Public Policy Institute, invited his former boss to candidly reflect on his time in office.

Here are a few excerpts from one of Edgar's talks-to aspiring journalists-which focused on today's news media:

Edgar on the role of the media: "The press is a key player (in setting public policy). I don't think that was the original intent when the founding fathers set up this democracy, that one of the major players in setting public policy would be the news media. But in fact it has become one of the most important. Because of that, anyone who's going to go into journalism needs to appreciate that your responsibility is even greater than just reporting the news because what you do very often has a major impact on how public policy is finally developed."

Edgar on why politicians must court the media: "If you're in elected office and you're trying to push some cause, you've got to have the news media cover it. Because if the news media doesn't cover it, it's not an issue...People in government very often react to what they read in the newspaper, see on television or hear on radio because they know that's what their constituents are reading and listening to and seeing. And that's going to generate where their interest is and that's how they're going to be measured: by how they deal with these problems that have raised in the news media.
...the press is very important in setting the agenda. And once the agenda's set in getting things done."

Edgar on the media's positive impact on politicians: "One of the very important roles the press plays in very positive sense-and I can say this now that I'm out of politics-is to keep us honest. And I don't mean legally honest as much as I mean intellectually honest. There needs to be someone who is not part of the system officially that is saying: 'Now wait a minute, you're saying this today, but before the election you said this and now you're saying that'...
"It's very important that anyone in power knows that they do have to answer to someone. Now in the end, you have to answer to the voters. But the voters get their information usually from the media.

"So the media role is very important in keeping track of what elected officials do and in making sure they're honest in an intellectual sense."

"Without your profession, democracy simply does not work."

Edgar is now a distinguished fellow at the Institute for Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois.