The Emmy and Peabody Award-winning reporter warmed up the crowd of 450 by joking about the Democrats, Republicans, the Clintons, Richard Nixon and George W. Bush.

Then the issues turned more serious with his comments about prisoner abuse in Iraq and the war. Wallace said there may be more news of abuse surfacing. And, he added, these acts do not help the United States’ role as the good guy. The abuse allegations “only create more enemies and make the job harder.”

Wallace said war will play an important role in the fall election, especially if the situations do not improve in Iraq. According to recent polls, the president’s ratings are down. However, John Kerry has not crossed the threshold of presidential confidence with the electorate.

Wallace said it will be another close election. Both sides will focus “less on the center of the electorate but energizing their base supporters to vote.”

Wallace moved to Fox News in November after 15 years with ABC as chief correspondent with PrimeTime Live and seven years at NBC. “I’ve loved the move,” he said. “It was very attractive” to get back to breaking news.

Following the speech, several members of the audience questioned him about bias and the election.

He said that the media fight being called liberal or conservative. However “there are a lot of unexamined assumptions” in the media. “Liberal progressive positions are baseline, conventional wisdom and conservative positions are seen as conservative.”

Some Fox news shows are opinion shows like “The O’Reilly Factor,” he said. But the majority of news during the day on Fox is “fair and balanced.”

This was the first lecture in a three-year series sponsored by Teachers Credit Union at IU South Bend. “We are proud to sponsor this series. IUSB is an important resource for greater Michiana and we are proud to be part of it,” according to Richard J. Rice, president and chief executive officer of Teachers Credit Union.

Future lectures will be yearly in the spring.