AP’s Feller: White House ‘a Very Scripted Place’

Ben Feller does a mean Bill Clinton.

His Barack Obama and George W. Bush impersonations are pretty convincing, too.

All made momentary appearances Tuesday night as Feller, the chief White House correspondent for The Associated Press, spoke at the State Theatre in downtown State College.

But it was his insight into the West Wing press corps — his perspective on covering the leader of the free world — that took center stage.

‘The White House, in today’s environment, is a very scripted place,’ said Feller, 40, a 1992 Penn State graduate from Boalsburg.

Even in that controlled atmosphere, he went on, a reporter still must be agile, flexible, able to capture the day’s unexpected twists, question the official talking points and make news.

‘Journalism is as important as ever,’ Feller told the audience during his hour-long appearance, part of the Penn State Foster Conference of Distinguished Writers. ‘ … I haven’t given up the notion that there’s a constant demand for people who can accurately report news.’

To a student who wondered about a relative lack of available positions in the profession, Feller offered encouragement to persist, even in the tough and evolving job market.

To those who asked about nuances of his job, and for journalism advice, he was direct:

Keep your writing simple. Know how to develop sources well. Fully commit yourself to the work, and work hard, but find ways to guard personal time.

And ‘don’t ever think of a story as a means to a end’ for your own professional gain, Feller told aspiring journalists in the crowd. Every story written, he said, matters to and has an impact on people.

Once a psychology major at Penn State, Feller switched into journalism in his senior year. Told by a Daily Collegian editor that he was too old for the student paper, he began contributing instead to the Centre Daily Times, where he worked on a full-time basis after college.

One of his first substantial reports for the CDT, he said Tuesday, was about a fatal incident on the University Park campus. A tree limb fell onto a student who later died from her injuries, Feller said.

He randomly witnessed the accident first-hand and contributed to the newspaper’s coverage later in the day. He was in the CDT newsroom — working on the story — when an editor told him the victim had passed away.

Feller retreated to a bathroom to compose himself, then carried on with his work, he said.

‘I started at the Centre Daily Times covering everything,’ Feller said. He said his work now is ‘really … a more complex’ level of the reporting he did locally.

Feller read excerpts of his presidential coverage, reflected on presidential news conferences and fielded questions about Washington, D.C., life. But his remarks returned repeatedly to the local. Before his career took him to North Carolina, Florida and — finally — to D.C., life in State College set his foundation, he said.

He said Zeno’s, the Allen Street beer bar, is still his No. 1 preferred venue for a brew.

‘This place has shaped who I’ve become as a person and as a writer,’ Feller said of State College and Penn State, extending thanks to his family and the university in particular.

Two more journalists — Pulitzer winners Wendy Ruderman and Barbara Laker, of the Philadelphia Daily News — are scheduled to appear for a Foster Conference event at 10:10 a.m. Wednesday in the HUB-Robeson Center auditorium. Their appearance, too, will be free and open to the public.

Earlier coverage

• White House Correspondent, Pulitzer Winners to Speak in State College (March 29, 2011)