Evan Milberg: Comm 361

When Bob Schieffer first debuted on Face the Nation 56 years ago, the way journalism was done was completely different. There was no Internet. There were no microblogs that tracked the news in real time, no RSS feeds that let you subscribe to a particular type of news and nothing that let you have the news anywhere and any time you wanted it. Everything was different back then.

Well, almost everything.

“The one constant that will never change is the need for professionally trained reporters to gather the news” said Schieffer.

Schieffer’s message to journalism students is simple. The media for reporting and how they are structured and layed out changes what seems like every day, but no matter what the media are, the craft of writing a story remains the same.

Schieffer, who has also served as an anchor on the Saturday edition of CBS Evening News since 1973, joined students participating from the George Mason University Video Studio along with Steve Scully, the political editor for the C-SPAN networks, and students from the TCU School of Journalism (named after Schieffer) and the University of Denver last Thursday.

According to Schieffer, while lots of things have changed over the past half century, his show is not one of them.

“Face the Nation is basically the same as when we first broadcasted in 1954″ said Schieffer.

The basic objectives of a journalist have not changed, either. Among other things, two of the things that Schieffer advised the students participating in the video conference is that the journalist’s job is to find the truth and portray that truth in language your audience can understand.

“Tell the story the way you would tell your mother” said Schieffer.

With the advent of new technology, there is often as emphasis on being the first to publish a story, whether it has inaccuracies or not. Schieffer told the students that accuracy in news should not be sacrificed for immediacy.

“It’s better to be right than first on a story” said Schieffer.

The distance learning course, which is produced by C-SPAN, is a unique opportunity for students to interview guests via video conference. The course airs on C-SPAN3 on Fridays at 5 p.m. and also streams online.

You can watch the complete interview here

During President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address in January, the people of the United States finally got to see the man they voted for.

In his speech, Obama told Democrats to not “run for the hills,” one of many statements that reminded political consultant Bob Shrum of the oratory prowess that Obama used to captivate the nation before he became president. 

“Obama was Obama again” said Shrum.

According to Shrum, the president rediscovered the voice that made his 2008 campaign so successful. 

Shrum, who has advised numerous Democratic presidential campaigns, joined students participating from the George Mason University Video Studio along with Steve Scully, the political editor for the C-SPAN networks, and students from the University of Denver and the University of the District of Columbia.   

The students had the opportunity to ask Shrum a variety of questions, one of which covered the strenghts of Obama’s speech.   

“I think the speech had a colloquial sense, but wasn’t pedestrian. It moves with a rhythm you find compelling. What mattered was not the length of his words, but the strength of his words” said Shrum. 

Shrum seemed to imply that if one of the president’s goals was to restore Americans’ confidence in his administration, he successfully did that.

“He was confident and honest with people. The sense you got out of this was someone with a sense of direction and someone who cares about people” said Shrum.  

In his first year, two of the more defining issues the Obama Administration has had to tackle have been the economy and health care reform.   

“[This speech was] reaffirmation that he wasn’t going to run away from these issues” said Shrum. 

As for weaknesses of the speech, Shrum had a hard time thinking of any. 

“Weaknesses? I don’t know. There was some policy stuff that was not riveting, but he moved through it quickly” said Shrum. 

The distance learning course, which is produced by C-SPAN, is a unique opportunity for students to interview guests via video conference. The course airs on C-SPAN3 on Fridays at 5 p.m. and also streams online at (http//www.c-span.org/Distance_Learning).