Convention General Session: Politics and the Media

This was the best session at the convention. Sam Feist, Political Director for CNN, lead a discussion about his job and the 24-hour news channels. Feist was highly motivated and well informed. He led an open forum discussing the war in Iraq and the broadcast media coverage.

Chris

New Media and the 2008 Presidential Campaign

David Anderson of Lewis University discussed the use of the Internet in the 2008 presidential campaign trail. He discussed the presidential debates on YouTube and the positive and negative effects of the Internet and politics. He concluded that new media might lead to a more active electorate and a new town square for public debate.

Chris

Watching the dogs

Kenna Griffin from Oklahoma was all over the place and in our face from the beginning of this session about better covering student government, but she came with a compelling message. She claimed that keeping watch over organizations in power is the primary role of a journalist. She gave several examples from her own school setting in which officials in charge of financial decsions and acted unjudiciously and at times even stole money. She said their coverage of this issue won several awards.

She gave a few vague tips for keeping an eye on the people in charge:
-don't just cover the administration, as they only release good news
-attend all meetings (which I recently found out we as a paper are not doing)
-know the law in the area
-rotate the beat, at least every semester, to keep ideas and perspective fresh
-remember students aren't always interested in political processes
-focus on related news
-avoid conflicts of interest

The last one was one she stressed for a long time and said that under no circumstances should people in the student government be involved in decision making that goes on in the newsroom.

Jim Mustian

CNN's Sam Feist discusses media's role

The next session I attended was for just about everybody, I believe, and hundreds of people were in the ballroom. CNN's Sam Feist talked for over an hour about his strategies for getting people to watch his programming and how important it is to love what you're covering. Feist is the manager of the program "The Situation Room" and gained the audience's respect when he began name dropping. "I've known Wolf [Blitzer] for 15 years and I still don't know his political orientation," he said at one point while stressing the importance of leaving personal political beliefs at the door. He said sporting bumper stickers or campaign buttons are grounds for being terminated at his company. That's because trust and objectivity are "the most important thing" in journalism, and he said those should at no time be compromised.

He gave as a contrast to being accountable the example of how Barack Obama's education was erroneously reported to have been strictly Muslim. He talked in detail about how CNN got a reporter on the story immediately and broke the news that the claims were completely convoluted, alluding the incompetence of his competitors.

The thing I'll take from Feist's presentation, I believe, is that the press is the "only real check" on the government and that doing your job well in this industry can have a real impact on the world, as has been continually demonstrated.

Jim Mustian

General session: politics and the media

A political reporter from CNN named Sam Feist spoke about the role of journalists and about his passion for politics. That man really loves his job. He told us to find an area of journalism that we're really passionate about, and I think that's great advice. That really spoke to me, but a lot of the political stuff didn't mean too much to me; I'm not that interested in politics.

Actually, a lot of what he said spoke to me. For example, he said that our role as journalists is to challenge authority, get the story and make sure those in power are telling the truth. He also said, "If it's something you believe in, do it. Don't worry about the money. The money will come if you're good at it and if you're really passionate about it." I love that, and I think my family needs to hear it!

Leigh

General Session.

I never tire of hearing a student reference something that they learned in my class. Words cannot describe my sense of pride, satisfaction and delight – okay, maybe those words can. Yesterday Jim, who is in the JOUR 3080 class I took over at midterm, mentioned that when writing his article for this week's edition of THE CURRENT SAUCE, he chose to use the word "refused" -- instead of "declined" -- to describe someone's reaction to a line of questioning. The captive audience that is JOUR 3080 had heard me wax on about the difference between "no" and "hell, no" on Tuesday, just hours before Jim filed his story. NICE.

Hearing students track bits of what I say in class is all well and good, but seeing students get excited by journalism is truly thrilling. There's that satisfaction of seeing your first by-line (or even your umpteenth) in print or first package on screen. Knowing that your work may have informed and/or impacted someone is the kind of accomplishment that makes you love what you study or do.

Everywhere I look at the CMA conference, I see journalists-in-training discovering fresh inspiration. Nowhere was this more evident than at the convention's general session on politics and the media on Friday. Keynote speaker Sam Feist, CNN's political director, spoke to hundreds of aspiring reporters and editors about the media coverage of the political arena in the United States. With just a year to go before the next presidential election, I think we were all particularly keen to hear what Feist had to say.

I expected that Feist would enthrall us with a discussion of Washington, the world, the way, etc. He absolutely did. I wanted to wave a flag, march to the capitol, belt out the national anthem and update my voter registration card.

What I underestimated was Feist's ability to enrapture a ballroom full of young media-makers with his passion for his job. He spoke with such conviction, hope and sincerity about working in journalism that I felt palpable electrification surge through the crowd. When Feist opened the floor for questions, hands flew up in the air.

As soon as he closed his speech, a throng of ambitious students rushed the stage, eager for a handshake and a few seconds of Feist's attention. I have no doubt that he was beyond busy, with a tight schedule of other places to be and important people to see, but he cheerfully sat down on the dais for an impromptu meet-and-greet.

I moved up closer to take photos, and I saw how Feist patiently gave one aspiring CNN intern after another the chance to introduce himself or herself and heap e-mail addresses, cards, resumes and clips upon him. He looked surprised at requests for his autograph, which he happily obliged. He did an admirable job of recognizing who in the audience had asked what and appeared genuinely interested in their comments and questions.

As important a media figure as Feist is and as many people around the world who watch or read the work he does for CNN, he still seemed genuinely pleased to hear about what one student took away from his speech that morning. The man brings news to millions and yet still gets satisfaction from reaching just one.

Dr. Lee