You wrote about something
that-that really connected with me,
and that was in and around the conversation
-of neutrality as a journalist. -Mm-hmm.
And you came out, and you were speaking to the idea
-that journalists shouldn't be neutral... -Mm-hmm.
...which was an interesting take I'd never heard before.
Well, I-I've come up with a...
with a sort of a slogan right now,
because I'm about frustrated at all of this.
So I now say, "Truthful, not neutral."
-There's a difference. -Yes.
Truthful is bringing the truth.
Neutral can be creating a false equivalence
between this faction...
(applause and cheering)
I'm really glad you agree,
because it's to you who I'm reporting the news,
and I really want you to know
that I go out of my way to bring you the truth.
And the truth is actually there.
You can find the truth.
And there are facts, and there are figures.
And then there are other things.
-And you can't conflate the two. -Yes.
Or equiv... or create an equivalence there.
I learned that in Bosnia, Trevor.
I covered the Bosnia war,
-and there was one side that was massacring another side. -Yeah.
And we were expected to somehow create a moral equivalence,
and there wasn't any.
And so, in order to be truthful, I had to tell the truth,
which was that one side was being massacred by another side.
And that's how you get to an end, to a resolution,
when you actually have the truth.
Now, um, you've also spent
extensive periods in the Middle East.
You've covered everything in the Middle East,
-and even, I guess, in parts of North Africa, as well. -Yup.
-Looking at what happened in Turkey... -Mm.
...you are going, "What is happening in this place?"
Everyone was watching, saying,
-"Is it a coup? Is it not a coup?" -Yeah.
The president came out and said, it's not a coup
because the generals are not involved in this,
but there are military personnel
who are trying to take over the country.
The coup dies down, and now, all of a sudden,
it seems, from some sides,
maybe the president staged the coup?
And there's WikiLeaks and...
-You're an expert. -Yeah.
I don't get to talk to experts on this often.
What is happening in that world?
I think that little bit could be a bit of a conspiracy theory.
But I do think that, look, all of a sudden,
everything seems to be coming to a head.
You had that horrible ISIS attack in Nice.
And barely 24 hours later,
you had this attempted coup in Turkey.
What I think is what happened is that there were
a good number of people within the military
who decided that they didn't like President Erdogan anymore,
for whatever reason: A, is he becoming too much
of an Islamist president?
The military is fiercely secular.
-Uh, is he becoming too autocratic? -Yeah.
From their perspective-- the president's perspective--
this was a plot, uh, you know, sort of... sort of inspired
by a guy who's sitting here in Pennsylvania.
But what's happening now is that A, the people came out,
and they refused to allow the coup to take place.
That, I think, is a triumph for democracy.
-Because the people stopped it, yes. -The people stopped it.
They really did. He called the people out,
and they came out, the president did.
But, you know, there's a massive crackdown now.
You know, 50,000 people are being either detained,
uh, suspended from their jobs, or under investigation,
including members of the press.
So I think we wait to see how this plays out.
When you see something play out like that,
a president like Erdogan, who many have said is autocratic,
many have said, you know, denounces free speech,
and, I mean, he's locked people up, he's arrested them
for making jokes about him and so on,
and then you see someone like Donald Trump,
who has said he wants to get rid of the libel laws,
he wants to go out and go after journalists
or satirists who say things about him,
and the people support both of these people.
Do you see a path whereby Donald Trump
could get to that same place?
'Cause Americans always go: It can't happen here,
-Yeah. -let me tell you something,
-Mm-hmm. -it won't happen here, okay?
We're different, okay?
Yeah, I think that that's true. That is true.
This is a democracy with a First Amendment
and a very, very, you know,
closely guarded freedom of expression
and freedom of the press.
But it is guarded because it is fragile,
and we have to make sure that nothing and no one
can assault this basic right that makes America strong,
this First Amendment
and all its amazing constitutional protection.
(applause)