Comments on: Al Gore at the Wang Center Boston

By: GoreFan

GoreFan — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 14:48:05 +0000

Why did I buy tickets to see Al Gore? To hear one of the world’s most informed speakers talk about climate change. Doesn’t he have a new book to promote? It was hardly mentioned. I didn’t get what I expected.

Why was that Globe reporter chosen? Why not Beth Daley, the environmental reporter? Why not Ross Gelbspan?

I assume that most of the audience wanted to hear his ideas on HOW we can solve the climate crisis. He spent a good deal of time talking about the evidence of climate change around the world, but I wanted to hear how he thinks we’re going to stop global warming.

Gore is a natural speaker – bright, funny, charming – unlike his stiff demeanor on the campaign trail. I could have listened to him speak for another hour (about climate change policy). Too bad Ms. Milligan wasted so much time – she was the wrong choice. And the way it ended so abruptly was very unprofessional.

By: Claire

Claire — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 15:09:23 +0000

I couldn’t agree more with your summation of the interviewer’s performance. What a waste of a great opportunity. I became more and more frustrated not only because of the endless self-absorbed questions about the decline of newspapers but because her questions were not concise. We spent way too much time listening to her ramble to a point which ate up a lot of the time we could have been listening to the speaker we paid to see. I wanted to hear about climate change, you know, the subject for which Al Gore won all the awards that were mentioned. Al Gore tried to bring the subject back around to climate change a couple of times and then appeared to give up. Very frustrating.

Al Gore did make one comment I disagreed with. In speaking about the economic collapse, he said (paraphrased) 99% of the blame goes to the regulators who weren’t watching those guys run off with the store. I think that’s too harsh given the way that regulators have been underfunded and legislation passed which hamstrings them over the years since at least the late 90′s. Like many players, they deserve a slice of this pie, but not that big a wedge.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 21:06:07 +0000

I totally agree that the review is awfully polite to the hack-job that Milligan did on-stage. In full disclosure I have worked in the media for some time now (I was not working at the show; I was there on my own) and have worked in newspapers, so I was interested in the discussion, but this was not the forum. We have one of the greatest minds of our generation and instead Milligan opted to ask questions she could have well asked backstage after the show. A single question about the demise of newspapers and what it means for the future of media would have sufficed. But her harping on the topic, her poor candor and her inability to dodge the spotlight was appalling. To give a blanket “and this is why newspapers are failing” statement is unfair to what is a brilliant (but sorely lagging) industry. More suitably, Milligan was a disastrous and outright disappointing pick for this particular venue.

By: Maple

Maple — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:05:13 +0000

Milligan was a horrible moderator. Sitting in front of her is a former Vice President, Nobel Peace Prize winner and an Oscar winnee, and she spend the last 15-20 minutes about print newspapers. Although interesting, it became completely self-serving when she continued to ask follow up questions until the very end.

She squandered an opportunity to tap into such a great mind, by stumbling on questions, and editorializing while asking VP Gore a question. (It’s bad when the interviewee comments on the moderator’s bitterness) She squandered the audience’s opportunity to truly experience the depth, wealth of knowledge VP Gore has regarding climate change and the future. Thank goodness that we had 45 minutes of opening comments before the moderator portion.

By: Rob

Rob — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:44:07 +0000

I would say that the evening would have been better with no moderation at all. Mr. Gore was entertaining for the first half hour. But when the Q&A section started, it seemed like they were two friends at a Starbucks rather than a serious reporter asking hard questions.

There was no questioning like, “What if in the next ten years we don’t see these climate changes that you outlined?”. If we had a series of tougher questions, it would have made the night much more entertaining and I would have taken Ms. Milligan more seriously.

I think they need to step away from the Globe and start getting guys who are more forward thinking in the way the news is delivered. Maybe a reporter from Politico.com who realize the live channel is more effective at reaching masses than printing paper. Clearly they have a solution that goes beyond the printed word. Perceptions like Ms. Milligan’s regarding her industry is the problem why newspapers can’t evolve. It’s poor us rather than building new channels, changing revenue models. Mr. Gore made mention to the Music Industry evolving their revenue models from CDs to online MP3s via iTunes. The reality is most bands now make money from touring more frequently. Newspapers need to find their tour…

I have no doubt Charlie Rose debate will be ten times better.

By: Christine

Christine — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:31:33 +0000

Thanks for this recap. I was there but started to zone out partway through Milligan’s questions about the demise of newspapers.

“Miligan broke the first rule of interviewing (and giving toasts, incidentally) in that she made the interview about her.” Mindich, I’d argue, was guilty of that too – I thought he said more about the Phoenix/Boston After Dark than was really necessary in his intro.

It did end abruptly, didn’t it? That was weird. And did I miss it, or was Milligan never introduced? I didn’t know who she was.

But it was a treat to hear Gore in the first part of the evening. Glad I got to go.

By: RJ

RJ — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:25:47 +0000

I completely agree. Milligan ruined what could have been an amazing and inspiring evening. I have no idea how she was selected as moderator. She pushed her own agenda, and was infuriating. I could rant on and on about her, as I did after the show last night, but this article sums it up nicely. IMO, it was a wasted opportunity to interview such an accomplished person.

By: Elena

Elena — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:14:24 +0000

This article was way too polite to Susan Milligan. She stole the show last night – by making a complete fool of herself. To his credit, Mr. Gore ran circles around her intellectually and handled himself with extreme grace in an obviously uncomfortable situation (as usual).

By: Susan

Susan — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:03:24 +0000

She really did seem like a last minute substitute. The only research and preparation that she may have done was to ask what colour the flowers would be, so she could match her suit and look nice on stage. The demise of the newspaper in its current form is the least of her problems. It really is a shame that we all woke up this morning thinking about Susan Milligan instead of the environment!

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:53:35 +0000

Too bad Al Gore had to be intereviewed by Miss Milligan, who obviously has no interest in climate control, the effects of global warming or what Al Gore had to say about tying in all 3 present crisis. I doubt she realized that there were paying people who wanted to hear what Al Gore had to say on climate control and not about the demise of the newpaper. Maybe next time Al Gore will travel with Jon Stewart!

By: APik

APik — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:23:31 +0000

I once watched a video of Noam Chomsky giving a talk in Cambridge. I’m not his biggest fan, but when some jerks tried to take over the talk by asking questions about some other topic and shouting, Chomsky asked everyone for a show of hands — “Who wants to talk about what this guy wants to talk about?”

Nobody raised their hands and the dude left. I wish Al Gore could have done that for Milligan.

By: aaron

aaron — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 13:58:31 +0000

Mike,
Thanks for your comment. I added “as I was taking notes with a Sharpie, on the back of an envelope, in the dark, in my terrible handwriting” to clarify what I had intended to be a warning not to quote my quotations. I understand that the way it was worded originally could lead to confusion and allow the reader to assume I’m entirely tech-reliant (which, I actually am, just not in this case).

By: Lenore

Lenore — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 13:53:47 +0000

I was totally disgusted with Susan Milligan’s lack of professionalism and outright snippy tone of voice throughout the entire interview. I felt embarrassed for Mr. Gore but he was gracious even in the face of ridiculous and unrelated line of questioning. I really hope Ms. Milligan loses her job sooner rather than later and am dumbfounded as to HOW IN THE WORLD she was selected.

By: Kerry

Kerry — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 13:33:26 +0000

sounds like the moderators are absolutely ruining this series. a shame.

By: Joanne

Joanne — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 12:47:37 +0000

I could not agree more and wonder how Susan Milligan got the gig (was she a last minute subsitute?).

If Ms. Milligan was worried about her job security before last night, she should really be worried now. Her ad nauseam harping on the demise of the newspaper industry drove my husband and I to the door at 9:45. As she argued the superiority of newspaper reporting over internet news and blogs, she showed all of the preparation and finesse of an elementary school debate club president. The car industry? There is plenty to blame on senior management, but up until $4/gallon gas, consumers were still buying SUVs (it takes at least three years to redesign). Saying that Obama could fire Gore? Too absurd to be funny.

How about thoughtful questions about Mr. Gore’s opinions on Cap & Trade? Biofuels? Healthcare? Taxes?

Vice President Gore was gracious and thoughtful and deserved better. And so did the audience.

By: Mike Saunders

Mike Saunders — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 12:18:20 +0000

“(I wasn’t able to Twitter this event, so quotations will be even more paraphrased than usual.)”

???

Aaron, as they have for centuries, pen and paper still work just fine for capturing quotes. So does typing into a laptop. Losing the ability to send tweets in real-time shouldn’t compromise the newsgathering process.

That’s what leads to the generally fallacious argument that blogging and “pro-am” coverage of news is a lesser quality.

(Full disclosure: I’m currently a Globe multimedia guy and I’ve met Susan Milligan twice.)