The revolutionary notion of objectivity
NBC News White House Correspondent David Gregory is on island to speak on his seven years covering America's biggest stories
BY MARLI GUZZETTA INDEPENDENT ARTS EDITOR
In the media circus, David Gregory walks the high wire - the thin line between being criticized by the left and being criticized by the right. Both sides of the peanut-munching political crowds accuse him, regularly and soundly, of being too easy or too harsh on the Bush Administration as the NBC News White House Correspondent.

Courtesy of Shirat Ha Yam, Gregory's appearance will benefit the South Church Preservation Fund

While some may see it as problematic to compare a press correspondent, inherently a witness, to a performer, it's pertinent in the sense that Gregory gets watched and judged not as a man with a front row seat to the president, but also someone who is part of the show.

"It's an example of how polarized people are that they can get so many views of what I do by seeing it through their own political prisms,"said Gregory, who added that he is mindful

of staying "balanced and centered."

It's helps that when he gets out of the office, he goes home to his wife and three young children - a 5 year old and 2-year-old twins. "So the attention switches when I get home," he said.

It's also helpful that Gregory has a sense of humor.

"I'd like to talk about the Jewish place in the whaling industry," joked Gregory of his upcoming talk on Nantucket, hosted by Congregation Shirat Ha Yam to benefit the Unitarian Universalist Church's South Church Preservation Fund. Gregory became acquainted with Shirat Ha Yam while visiting Nantucket for Passover a few years ago and will (in all seriousness) be sharing thoughts this week on his years covering the White House and the issues currently facing the president.

"Exhilarating," is the word Gregory used to describe the last seven years, which began with accompanying the president on Sept. 11.

"I've seen all of it, and it's been richly fascinating. But it's also been a contentious time, too, while the country is polarized."

Calling in from the road, Gregory speaks in complete sound bytes, but never sounds rigid or anything other than pleasant. He's candid on the accusations leveled against people in his position.

"I think the assertion of some liberals is that the press corps was asleep for a long time and didn't ask the right questions," he said. "I don't think that's fair. There are natural intensity spikes during a presidency, and it went up again when things started to not go as well during Iraq, the same way that, during Watergate, there was an intense level of coverage on the Nixon administration."

Gregory actually has a reputation at the White House for asking tough questions (even sometimes getting into public gentlemen's disagreements with press secretaries).

"I think that's the role of the press," he said of the tough questioning. "The White House press corps should be asking the president about matters of life and death. Our job is not to facilitate his agenda," he said. "There should be some tension in our relationship. We should be adversaries without being enemies."

On the other hand, Gregory disputes the criticism that the press corps should be more contentious with the president and refuses to let the media become a scapegoat for what he perceives to be the inattention of the Voting Populi, so to speak, or its attention only to outlets that support its opinions.

"I don't think that the left was engaged for a while. I don't think that people were paying attention, pushing and prodding and asking their own questions," Gregory said. "There are some people who think we should do more to condemn or confront the president in a more opinionated way, and that's just not our role. We're not there to be advocates for a cause."

The members of the press corps do, however, discuss and even sometimes debate current events, in a professional way, said Gregory, who described the press corps as "collegial."

"We're all living history and walking through it together," Gregory said. "So we all talk about it and occasionally debate."

Press corps fun fact: Ken Herman, of the Austin American Satesman, is the funniest man in the press corps, according to Gregory. "He covered Bush back in Texas. He's known the president the longest, so he can get away with saying things to him that no one else can."

Though Gregory believes ideological conflict to be "deeply American and patriotic," he thinks it could be more open-minded on both sides.

"I do despair in the political conversation. I think it could be less polarized and extreme and more thoughtful," he said. "I've seen that close up and I think we [the media] bear some responsibility for that. But I also think it's the politics of the day. It's on the Internet and on televisions - in the voices that are prevailing in our culture that lead us to be more polarized in our thinking and less open to other points of view."

As an arbiter of responsible questioning, Gregory seems the perfect choice for a speaker during the July 4 holiday. Nevertheless, there are certainly some who would rather see Gregory sway (perilously) to one side or the other of his high wire.

That being the case, they could always forego civil political discussion for a talk of the Jewish community's role in the whaling industry.

"The Jews of Newport, Rhode Island were the ones who figured out how to convert spermaceti oil into candle wax, and Nantucket stole their trade secrets. People joke about [Jews and whaling]. But they actually had a vital role in turning oil into an industry," said award-winning maritime historian and Egan Foundation director Nat Philbrick. "It's actually a good and important question to raise."

When: Thurs., July 5, 7:30 p.m. Where: Unitarian

Universalist Church,

11 Orange St. Cost: $25 (general admission); $50

(reserved section) (Make checks payable to "South Church Preservation Fund.") Tickets are available at Nina Hellman Antiques or the church office. For more information, please call 228-6588.