The Clinton Global Initiative

by Brian Beutler, The Media Consortium: Mon., Oct 1, 2007
Filed under: Media Consortium: journalism project

There’s a pretty fundamental problem with the Clinton Global Initiative from the perspective of junior and mid-level journalists: We weren’t guests.

Oh, sure, we were there, corralled into the Lower Lobby of the Time Square Sheraton that hosted the initiative. We were provided coffee and sandwiches and, for about one hour at a time, twice a day, we were offered a chance to sit on the sidelines of a public panel. But for the rest of the time, we were–for all intents and purposes–confined to a basement allowed only to watch the four ongoing, simultaneous sessions (on global health, climate change, education, and poverty alleviation) via closed-circuit television. We were forbidden from attending those sessions in person and from snooping about like paparazzi to interview the sorts of people we’d never otherwise have access to.

Occasionally, a panelist–such as World Bank Chairman Robert Zoelick–would mosey on by the press room, and field questions from those reporters who decided to encircle him.

But the point of the Clinton Global Initiative is two-fold. It’s main purpose is to encourage big entities to harness their resources for the purposes of making the world a better place, and then honor them for so doing. The ancillary benefit–at least in theory–is that the public action taken by companies like Wal Mart and Duke Energy–will encourage the rarified guests of the William Jefferson Clinton Foundation, who paid $15,000 a piece attend, to take similar action.

Leaving New York on Friday, neither I nor any of the other members of the press who stuck around for the whole affair, have any sense of which of these guests were actually there, what sort of interest they take in world affairs, and how well suited they are to make an impact themselves.

Global poverty and climate change–two of CGI’s pet issues–result from structural problems. As helpful as it is to have major businesses and donors involved in those struggles, they will only be won with international action by governments. And, as such, there was a lot of good talk at the initiative about the need for governments to become more involved. I’m happy to report that.

I’d also be happy to report that myriad heads of state and international political officials were in the audience and taking those words seriously. I just have no idea if that’s the case.