Americans have more options for receiving political news now than at any other time in history, former White House press secretary Marlin Fitzwater said Friday in Lawrence.

But that inundation has led to problems in the media as pressures to be the first with the story have grown.

“Without a doubt, we’re in the most dynamic time of change the news media has seen in the last half century,” Fitzwater said. “The more corners are cut in the name of efficiency, the greater the chance for news corruption.”

Fitzwater spoke to about 175 people Friday in the Kansas Union after receiving the national citation from the William Allen White Foundation.

Fitzwater, a native of Abilene, used his remarks to champion openness and personal responsibility.

He noted that the 24-hour cable news cycle, the Internet and the number of journalists covering the White House all have boomed since he was press secretary under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush from 1983 to 1992.

Pressures that editors and reporters face helped lead to recent controversies in journalism, including fabrication of stories by Jayson Blair at The New York Times and Stephen Glass at The New Republic. But Fitzwater said he was convinced the controversies had helped solidify journalistic integrity among those committed to the profession.

“I’m very optimistic these problems are being addressed, that they’re being discussed by the journalistic leaders of America,” he said. “In my mind, this is the most exciting period of communication in history.”

The new media that has emerged in the past 20 years also has changed the way presidents handle their press coverage. No longer are news conferences the only — or in some cases the most efficient — method to disseminate information. Bill Clinton’s 1992 appearance on the Arsenio Hall Show proved that, Fitzwater said.

Marlin Fitzwater, White House press secretary from 1983 to 1992, left, tells Tom Volek, associate professor of journalism, right, how White House staff found out about the fall of the Berlin Wall only after receiving a Reuters news service story. Fitzwater was touring the KU television facilities Friday before receiving the William Allen White Foundation's national citation at KU.

“I would tell the president (George H.W. Bush) it’s not presidential to be out on these talk shows with your saxophone,” Fitzwater said. “I was wrong.”

Asked about George W. Bush’s comment that he doesn’t read newspapers, Fitzwater said similar ignorance of public opinion caused “great peril” to other presidents. Fitzwater said Bush’s father ignored news coverage about the failing economy in 1992.

“We were out of touch,” Fitzwater said. “The American people threw us out of office.”

Fitzwater’s appearance had generated criticism from some members of the William Allen White Foundation’s board of trustees who said the award should be reserved for journalists, not government spokesmen.

But Ned Valentine, chairman of the board of trustees, said Fitzwater was a good choice for the award because he had fought for open government and freedom of the press during his public service tenure.

“He pled the press’ case for the right to know,” Valentine said.

6News video: Fitzwater honored by KU School of Journalism Former insider offers mixed review of Bush’s P.R. (2-13-04) William Allen White Foundation Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communications