To POLITICO We Go

Our last site visit was a great success from beginning to end, starting with acquiring a copy of POLITICO, which we have not been able to obtain because it is so popular, upon our arrival at its headquarters. We began with a lunch conversation with Steve Buttry, director of community engagement and a TCU alumnus, about TBD, a local area news network in Washington, D.C. that launched Aug. 9, 2010.

Even though TBD is extremely new and only a few weeks old, a strong emphasis on social media, with more than 3,500 followers already on Twitter and an in-depth iPhone app, and help from reporters from family news source POLITICO, it is growing and growing. The focus of TBD is local news that is relevant to readers and producing and providing stories, via partnerships and links to others news organizations that readers want to read and learn more about.

Later in the day we met with Jim VandeHei, executive editor and co-founder of POLITICO, and learned that since its creation in 2003, POLITICO has a circulation of 32,000 and 150 employees with more than half being reporters with ambitions to expand to 200 employees by the end of next year. POLITICO is an up-and-coming leader in political news and has been mentioned by every news organization we have visited as something they check every morning. This may be surprising, but it’s not when you hear the business model: hire the best journalists. Basically, that’s it because the ideology behind this is that the top reporters will find the news, have the sources to report it well and hopefully better than the competition and the news and quality of that will news set the reputation for the company.

Clearly this method of business success is working for POLITICO as they mentioned a competing publication has expressed a desire and intention to attempt to seduce some of POLITICO’s writers over to their publication. POLITICO’s response is essentially for them to bring it on because they want to keep their journalists happy. However, one of the questions I wanted to ask was about the high number of people that work at POLITICO who came from The Washington Post. Many people, including Jim who spoke with us, have experience working at the Post, and I wondered how they thought they could compete against an organization who so many of them have worked for, if other aspects of their business model differed and basically how they planned and are staying different from the Post and what they produce.

One of the things I appreciated about the POLITICO visit was the forwardness in thinking and explanation. The fact that they are more aggressive now than when they started, are actively engaging in social media and all the facets that entails and understand the priceless value of journalists is astounding and certainly some of the reasons they are such a success.

Multiplatform Journalism: There’s The AP for that

The Associated Press has been a well-respected and top-notch news providing organization since the Civil War. From then on they became, and have remained, the leading news wire service for hundreds of news organizations. So many news providers use AP that it is their second highest cost expense after salaries. So, basically, the AP is the coolest thing ever in the media realm.

Surprisingly, our delightful hosts who answered all of questions fully and beautifully mentioned they are still training print journalists, which they termed “text reporters,” to be video savvy and become comfortable operating and communicating with multiple formats. Being educated in the Schieffer School has trained me to naturally think of a multimedia element to every print story I generate, so I found it odd that AP has not made more of a push for their thousands of journalists across the globe to be more versatile in what they are capable to produce. Over the last two years, 110 journalists have been trained in general video and camera operations. To further spur the necessity of more than a print product, 10 journalists who showed immense progress and potential were given $15,000 camera sets to encourage the progressive excellence in multimedia work.

Another interesting thing we discussed was potential competition for the AP. How any news organization could even deem to imagine being competition is beyond me, especially when considering the economic and staffing resources they could not match in comparison with AP, but CNN has tried, often using AP as a source in the past while claiming to be independent in their findings. A peer of mine, Lauren, brought up the fact that the “National Enquirer” broke the story about John Edwards fathering a child. Our hosts mentioned that occasionally other news sources brake stories, using the example of TMZ breaking Michael Jackson’s death, and if the story is worth looking into they do so, but they use caution as some sources are not always the most reputable.

One of the questions I asked was the option for public-generated material to be used by AP, mentioning CNN’s iReport option for readers and viewers to send in videos, photos and other content. The answer was that AP values human interaction and thus does not have an outlet for the public to send in their contributions, but they do often ask for footage from bystanders of an event if a reporter is on site without a camera or cannot gain close access. They did say AP uses Twitter and Facebook to often find sources for stories and utilize those postings to check if things are indeed happening and accurate in order to send reporters.

The Associated Press encompasses journalistic integrity and ingenuity, continually resting at the top of the media food chain as a source of confidence and assurance for other news organizations, and after hearing today about their new ideas and improvements they are making with multimedia, they are bound to continue their reign as No. 1.

Triangular Strategy

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) was our destination for the start of our second week. CSIS, a bipartisan think tank dedicated to three top areas of national security, foreign policy and global challenges, such as health care and food distribution. So what is a think tank and where do they fall among the political spectrum of influence and policy making? A think tank focuses on day-to-day operations of government and conducts research that becomes translated into reports of scholarly intelligence that is then made available to the media and government officials for guidance.

Think tanks, journalists and policy makers have a triangular relationship. Unlike the trade organization and lobbying firm we visited last week, think tanks focus on areas of public policy that many legislatures cannot focus on since they spend a majority of their time seeking re-election. From an idea for a report on a specific topic comes the actual report that explains and clarifies the issue and makes conclusions about the end result or current state of affairs. Journalists then read the report and incorporate it into their stories about the topic, which policy makers in Washington inevitably read and consume, and therein lies the influence. However, CSIS is bipartisan and therefore remains as centered as possible in their studies and analyses, though many think tanks lean slightly or mostly to the left or right.

An example of the somewhat complicated triangular relationship is the Smart Power Commission, which was explained to us as the “integration of soft and hard power,” soft power being economic and diplomatic power and hard power being military force. For instance, this commission studied global health with smartglobalhealth.org and sought sponsors for the project, which received funding from a foundation. This initiative received media attention and reached policy makers, in turn affecting legislation.

Since CSIS is a “bottom-up” think tank, versus a “top-down” think tank that has a sizeable endowment to fund scholarly work and projects, it must raise most of the money project-to-project and issue-to-issue, just like the global health issue.

To further explain how a think tank like CSIS works, a journalism comparison was made during our visit. A news story contains the heart of the content in the first few paragraphs, followed by the translation and explanation of the featured content in the remaining paragraphs. Think tanks are like the later paragraphs because they often become the explainers as well as the drivers behind policy because of the level of analysis they engage in.

I left CSIS with a broader view of the relationship of how think tanks and media work together, but feel like I could still seek to better understand how they remain so centered in their analysis besides just aiming to be so, and if they ever do appear to lean in one direction, I wonder how they counter or explain that to the press.

Facing the Facts on “Face the Nation”

Every once and a while a person full of great kindness and compassion sets forth on a mission of extravagant measure to help a portion of humanity. One of these people is Greg Mortenson, author of “Three Cups of Tea,” and someone who has helped fundraise and oversee the construction of more than 150 schools for mostly female students in Pakistan. Bob Schieffer informed our group that Mortenson would be a guest on “Face the Nation,” and so I tried to read the entire book before today, but with all our recent adventures and fitting in time to play tourist, I only made it halfway through. Regardless, his story is so powerful.

While trying to climb the second highest peak after Everest, K2, he wandered off the path and was lost. Luckily he was found and nursed back to health by a group of people in Korphe. Overwhelmed with gratitude, he asked what he could do for the village in return for their kindness. They told him they needed a school because the government had promised for years to provide one but had not. And so he returned to California to raise money to build a school. That’s only the beginning.

Now he has helped make more than 150 schools a reality and started consulting with our military four years ago because he is familiar with being an outsider in a culture where we are currently at war. The book “Three Cups of Tea” is now required reading for high-ranked military officials and those who are deployed overseas. Mortenson is truly someone who understands that it is culture that must be adapted to in order to build strong bonds with another nation.

With our seats in the control room, we watched the broadcast of the Sunday morning show, which featured a brief interview with Gen. Ray Ordierno, who offered his insight about the last American brigade being taken out of Iraq but said if our help was still sought, it would take some deliberation whether or not to send more troops. Sen. Lindsey Graham also commented on the state of affairs in Iraq, and Mortenson answered questions about his mission to build schools and how he has advised military officials in the recent years.

Schieffer concluded the episode with commentary on the Internet, and how once an idea is out there it can become viral. He cautioned about the fallacies on the web, including recent concerns about President Obama being a Muslim, which 18 percent of Americans and 30 percent of Republicans believe to be true.

After the broadcast, Mortenson spoke with us briefly, answering our few questions in his reserved, shy manner. I wanted to ask him to speak about the transition process about learning a new culture and how he advises the military men who have to go about doing the same, but it seemed like a question that would require too much of his time to answer so I held my tongue, hoping I would discover the answer by the end of the book.

Starbucks at Last and Goodbye Dr. K

Today I discovered the exquisite joy that comes with eventually tasting my usual drink of delicious choice at Starbucks after I surviving on other coffee that could not attempt to compare for four days in a new city. Frankly I am surprised I am alive, but having time before our appointment at Pew allotted us a trip to Starbucks and therefore my overdo caffeine fix. It was divine.

Steaming cups in hand, we were joined by Tom at Pew, who spoke freely with us about research and current media trends in journalism, focusing on Apple and the iPad as examples. He was immensely intelligent, having a background in print journalism at the “New York Times” and “Newsweek,” and was extremely up-to-date and knowledgeable about where he and others thought the industry was headed. He spoke about how in the near future we would have screens the size of our phones, iPads and then one computer-size screen on the wall that would serve our computer and TV needs. He mentioned how the Internet had changed advertising and often hurt it, saying one study found that 80 percent of people admitted to rarely or never clicking on an online ad. I wish I had asked him more about the research aspect of Pew to balance the discussion about what much of their research indicated. It was a visit that ran almost an hour over, so while we felt bad for taking up so much of his time, we were thrilled with the knowledge we walked away with.

Afterward we headed to an Italian restaurant for a quick bite before departing with our professor at the Metro. So while she trekked back to her hotel to prepare for her flight back to Texas, we traveled back to our apartment, which I have already begun to call home. I suppose I am already somewhat adjusted. It was a relaxing afternoon, full of laughs and stories, and I am eagerly anticipating our next outing, this time joined by the director of our school, to the set of “Face the Nation.”

Let Them Eat Cake

A rainy day greeted us as we awoke to a morning of taxi confusion. As our professor prefers to segregate the strategic communication and news-ed people, both fabulous in our own ways, we arrived in different taxis to our destination of TechAmerica, which is a technology trade company but did not have cell phone reception in their conference room. This fun tidbit was discovered when we could not reach them on their cells when they did not arrive to join us in the lobby. Finally, and making us only slightly tardy, we ventured to the conference room and were treated to a quick but extremely interesting presentation on how the company started out small and grew to represent major technological companies, as well as smaller ones that they have faith in to become the next big thing.

They were honest with us about what they do, explaining their recent stances on opposing a sticker being added to phones purchased in Maine that warned the buyer the phone may cause cancer and a piece of legislation that made it illegal to place a chip in people against their will. Though surprising they opposed the second one, they explained it was because it demonized technology, so they were against it based on principle, but I wanted to ask if there was ever an instance where the technology-should-always-be-free-despite-the-consequences doesn’t trump whatever law or policy is up for passage and they do choose the force that opposes technology.

After a delightful time there we went to lunch at the National Press Association and consumed another three-course meal so we waddled out of the restaurant a while later, way too full to be moving at that point, and headed to mCapitol Management, a lobbying firm for companies like Motorola and Kellogg’s. To sum up the experience at mCapitol, I would have to say that I was thrilled we were twelve minutes late because that meant we spent twelve minutes where we were not miserable and were forced to listen to advice about our internships and how D.C. is all about who and where you know someone, and apparently job opportunities even arise at house parties. They totally RNCed us, which is the new term we will use from now on to express an unsatisfactory field trip where they avoid or talk around our questions like we first encountered at the RNC.

The mediocre day ended fabulously with a cocktail hour with the six of us before a delicious dinner with our professor at Smith and Wollensky. We have so many take-out boxes from eating out that we can barely open our fridge to eat the yummy contents of what is in them. And cake. We ordered cake, along with appetizers and drinks at dinner, and have an unhealthy amount of cake left, but we will enjoy the richness of chocolate and carrot cake a little bit each day for a long, long time. And that is just fine.

Schieffer Success

The Schieffer School namesake, Bob Schieffer, who is lovingly referred to as Uncle Bob by journalism students when not present, gave us the Washington welcome today with our visit to CBS News. Though we still began bright and early, and without coffee as our attempt to search for a Starbucks failed after passing up the long line at the one by the Metro, we discussed the exhausting day before at the ever-so-entertaining RNC and DNC.

Then it was off to unite some of the Horned Frog family. Since we took a taxi we arrived early to this location, so naturally I was ecstatic since I am a timely freak and there was time to dash across the street to a French café for coffee. After chatting with Bob for a while and meeting many CBS journalists that popped in to join our conversation and share stories along with Bob, we watched a taping of “Washington Unplugged,” where Bob and the main host of the segment, Jan Crawford, gave us a shout out by explaining the reason behind their purple apparel was because of TCU students in the audience.

After that dazzling experience, we felt extra special when Bob, Jan and two other journalists shared more of their time with us by accompanying us to lunch. Like any uncle would offer advice to family members, Bob was open with us about the field of journalism and how the public relies on us for objectivity, accuracy and investigative reporting. He shared various stories from his time at the “Star-Telegram” and experience covering the Pentagon in Washington. Though he is an extremely candid and captivating storyteller, making it hard to select a favorite story, I must admit that his tale about how the military found out how much sex people at the Pentagon were having for blackmail purposes before “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which involved a designated “condom catcher” to determine how many condoms had been flushed down the toilet, was utterly and painfully hilarious.

Onto a more serious story from Bob. He started talking about sacrifices journalists must make and shared with us that while he put in intensely long hours in his early days to become what he is today he felt he neglected his fatherly duties to his children. He said he regretted it and I think all of us internally thought about what sacrifices we have already made and will probably have to make this semester and later in our careers. While I know journalism requires a lot personally and professionally, we also discussed the excitement that is journalism and discovering a lead and then the actuality of its truth, creating the firework of passion for the trade to go off and remind us that even though we must give some things up, we hopefully will also discover the time in the story of our lives for the things that are truly valuable to us.