President Barack Obama applauded the role of the free press in American politics by telling a story about a conversation he had with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I probably shouldn’t be saying this,” he said. “But what the heck, it’s my last year.”

Putin brought up a recent article in The Atlantic about Obama’s view on foreign policy and complained to Obama about the piece. Putin said he disagreed with some of what Obama was quoted as saying in the article.

“Unlike you, Vladimir, I don’t get to edit the piece before it gets published,” Obama responded.

Obama’s conversation with Putin highlighted some major themes of his close to 30 minute speech at the Toner Prize for Excellence in Political Reporting award celebration on Monday in Washington, D.C.: why political journalism is important to American politics and how journalists can do their jobs better.

Moriah Ratner | Staff Photographer

The Toner Prize, which was created in 2009, is sponsored by Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. The prize honors the life and work of Robin Toner, an SU alumna and the first woman to be chief national political correspondent for The New York Times. Toner died in December 2008 at age 54 from complications of colon cancer.

The winner of this year’s Toner Prize, which was announced at the ceremony, was Alec MacGillis of ProPublica. MacGillis won the prize for his series “The Breakdown,” which exposed how the oil industry and other corporations influence public policy. Past recipients of the prize include Dan Balz and Karen Tumulty of The Washington Post, Molly Ball of The Atlantic, Jane Mayer of The New Yorker and Craig Harris of The Arizona Republic.

Former United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden and former U.S Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius have previously been keynote speakers at the ceremony.

During his speech, Obama said journalism should aim to keep politicians like himself accountable and inform the public — a point more salient now that the country is in the midst of an election during which Obama said the campaign trail has devolved into “divisive, vulgar rhetoric.”

“When our elected officials and our political campaigns become entirely untethered to reason, facts and analysis … that makes it impossible for us to make decisions for the future generations,” he said.

Now, the question Obama said he gets asked the most by world leaders is “What’s happening with American politics?”

“America’s the place where we can’t afford crazy politics,” he said.

Moriah Ratner | Staff Photographer

As Obama’s last term comes to an end, he said he’s reflecting on the current political climate in the country — how it’s gotten this “crazy” and how the tone of debate has gotten worse. Obama touched on similar themes in his State of the Union address earlier this year.

He said the current state of politics, which he wanted to describe as “carnival-like” but wouldn’t because “that implies fun,” is corroding democracy and society.

“Some are more to blame than others,” he said. “But we are all responsible for reversing it.”

Journalists who hold politicians accountable and uncover the truth, Obama said, are part of the force that is making the current political climate better. Journalists asking tough questions, he said, makes the U.S. political system better so voters “don’t take politicians at their word.”

Obama said journalists help him do his job better and he’s “grateful” for that, even when he disagrees with them.

All is not perfect in the media though, Obama said. The financial pressures of the journalism industry and the reality of working on social media sometimes causes journalists to “dumb down the news.” He added that no one will care who got the most retweets or likes in 100 years.

“Americans are still hungry for the truth. It’s just hard to find,” he said. “The curating function has diminished in this smartphone age.”

Published on March 28, 2016 at 11:44 pm

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