“This is one of those problems—for which there is no single simple answer—that you in the media have to keep front and center in the hearts and minds of the American people,” Clinton said. “We have to be able to count on you not to be silent about the things that matter.”

But Clinton warned that stories should not be done on a superficial level, and must instead seek to “think in a more integrated way” in order to explain problems involving race.

“When we talk about political issues that have a racial component, are they going to be treated exclusively as racial, or as also economic, or health or education related?” Clinton questioned. “Are we willing to probe the deeper recesses of our consciousness continually to try to get at the root of this?”

Clinton himself initiated a year-long dialogue on race during his final year in office, creating a government office to “keep the nation focused on closing the opportunity gap” between races, while convening corporate and religious leaders to pledge to renew diversity in their workplaces.

After praising his administration’s efforts to bridge differences between the races, he stressed that government had to do more to level opportunities between races, through efforts to ban racial profiling, as well as a re-examination of mandatory sentencing policies.

Clinton called on the media to provide more coverage of drawbacks to the mandatory sentencing policy in order to convince reluctant politicians to act on the issue.

“It is inconceivable that we will do what we ought, unless you help people understand and deal with the facts in a calm and honest and open way,” Clinton said.

Clinton also encouraged members of the media to increase diversity within their own field, a topic that was discussed at length in the morning panels.