When Peter Gosselin wrote a letter to the White House staff about why President Barack Obama should speak at a Syracuse University-sponsored event created on behalf of his late wife, journalist Robin Toner, he made two pitches: one formed around the president’s agenda and one based on the personal story of his wife.

The Toner Prize for Excellence in Political Reporting was created in 2009 to honor the profession of political reporting and those who do it. Toner, an SU alumna, was the first woman to be the chief political correspondent for The New York Times, and at one point in her career, Gosselin, also a journalist, said he thought she was being groomed to become the paper’s first female executive editor.

Toner died due to complications of colon cancer in December 2008, and Gosselin found that one way to honor her memory for both their twins, Nora and Jake, 18, and her beloved profession of political reporting was to establish the Toner Prize in her name.

The program has featured high-profile keynote speakers such as former United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2014 and Vice President Joe Biden in 2013. And for this year’s award ceremony, Gosselin was able to slate for the keynote speaker the top member of the Obama Administration: Obama himself.

“It just blows me away that he’s willing to speak at this event, and it’s a sign of respect — it’s a sign of respect for Syracuse, and it’s a sign of respect for Robin’s journalism home, The New York Times, but it’s a real sign of respect for her and … that incredible ability to love politicians and still cover them toughly and fairly,” Gosselin said.

Robin Toner and Peter Gosselin smile in an old family photo with their children, twins Jake and Nora, who are now 18. | Courtesy of Peter Gosselin

 

There’s no real formula to how Gosselin has been able to secure such high-up politicians for the keynote speech. He said the process is scrambling, writing letters and meeting with friends who have connections. And although the program is non-partisan and Gosselin reaches out to both Democrats and Republicans, a lot of those friends have connections on the Democratic side and within the Obama administration.

But, Gosselin said, “there are a million people who try to tug at the president’s sleeve and there are a million people who have stories to tell.” So he made his case in two parts: one that would appeal to the interest of the president’s staff and one that would attest to the personal side of Toner and Gosselin’s story.

In his letter, Gosselin wrote that those in attendance at the Toner ceremony would be “a perfect audience” for Obama, in the final year of his presidency, to reflect on how journalists and people in communications have done — whether it be good or bad — over the last eight years. Obama, Gosselin said, would also be able to speak about what journalists can do to “heal our really ruptured politics.”

The personal case Gosselin pitched to the president’s staff was that, in 1983 or 1984, when Toner was a political reporter for The Atlanta Journal Constitution, she decided to cover not only the conventional presidential candidates but also travel through the Deep South with candidate Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.’s campaign, Gosselin said, was the first serious one conducted by an African American for a major party nomination.

Toner’s coverage of Jackson shook up the Democratic Party enough to get the party to give Jackson a speaking role at the 1984 Democratic Convention, Gosselin said.

“Fast forward to 2008, I mean, Robin knew she was dying, but she really wanted to hang in to see what happened in the 2008 election, and I think in some way she thought it was the end of the era at the beginning of which she played some small role,” Gosselin said. “And it was really important to her to hang in there and to see the president elected.”

Moriah Ratner | Staff Photographer

Following Toner’s death on Dec. 12, 2008, Gosselin said one of then-President-elect Obama’s first proclamations was in mourning for the late political reporter. Gosselin said Obama’s statement was probably thanks to Rahm Emanuel, who went on to become Obama’s chief of staff and who was a close friend of Toner and Gosselin. Emanuel is now the mayor of Chicago.

In 2009, when Obama had gone from president-elect to president, Gosselin recalled how his wife thought it was unfair political reporters were rarely respected in terms of awards. Gosselin, who did a lot of investigative reporting and came close to winning a Pulitzer, said Toner was “vastly the better writer and reporter,” but added that she never got anything for it.

Gosselin reviewed all the recipients of the Pulitzer Prize and realized that, out of hundreds, only three Pulitzers at that point had been awarded for campaign coverage. The idea behind the Toner Prize, Gosselin said, was to try to right that wrong and recognize political reporters for the quality of their work.

“She loved politicians, just as long as they used their power to help people who couldn’t help themselves,” he said. “She didn’t care whether they were Republican or Democrat. She just liked politics and she just didn’t think good political reporters got enough credit, so this is my way of trying to do something about that.”

Published on March 29, 2016 at 12:15 am

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