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/ dave /
-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: Feedback Date: Wed, 27 Jun 2001 14:05:30 -0400 From: tglad at npcpress.org (Tom Glad) To: arouet at winternet.com
I am taking the liberty of answering for Mr. Koonce, since it was actually my organization that was responsible for bringing Dr. Kissinger to the ballroom of the National Press Club.
First, some background. The Eric Friedheim Library is a non-profit organization associated with, but distinct from the National Press Club. We do research for reporters (members and non-members of the Press Club) to help them insure their stories are accurate. We do not, however, receive sufficient funding from the club to complete our mission and must conduct fund-raising events.
To that end, we invited Dr. Kissinger to come and speak about his current book. We do this with as many as one or two authors per month. And we ask them all to speak about their books and the craft of writing. We do not invite them to come and conduct press conferences about any topic, but specifically request all of them to focus on their books.
In selecting the questions for Dr. Kissinger, Mr. Koonce was following well-established guidelines.
You should also know that none of the reporters who wrote about this event talked to me or my staff about our policies and procedures for these fund-raising author events. You may not agree with our policies, but Dr. Kissinger was not treated any differently than any of the hundreds of authors that have helped us raise money to support the activities of the library.
At 12:55 PM 6/27/01 -0500, you wrote:
>To Mr. Koonce -
>
>I'm afraid you did the public a disservice and betrayed the precepts of
>the profession of journalism in your effort to avoid discomfiting Mr.
>Kissinger after his speech by deliberately dispensing with questions
>that are profoundly relevant and so *obvious* at the present time as to
>be absurd in their omission - issues that are absolutely central to Mr.
>Kissinger's relation to the world at large. I believe your error in
>judgement will stand out in glaring fashion in due time, and perhaps
>then you'll come to your senses and realize what a tremendous error in
>judgement you've made. To be sure, one National Press Club event does
>not history make or break, and if one were feeling the least bit
>charitable towards you (if one were, say, your mother or father) one
>might secretly hope the incident would be quietly consigned to to the
>endless chain of forgotten events of the past. Unfortunately for you,
>there is a great deal more at stake here for innumerable citizens of the
>world who cannot forget their past, a past undoubtedly shaped in no
>small way by the hand of Mr. Kissinger. You would do well to think of
>your obligations to them and others like them the next time you're given
>a similar opportunity.
>
>--
>
>d.
Thomas Glad Director The Eric Friedheim Library
at the National Press Club