Semester in Washington Intern Blog
The government sued a newspaper over a column that speculated about the president’s powers and asked for a multimillion dollar fine.
What happened to the Ecuadorian newspaper El Universo shouts out about how far Latin Americans still have to move forward regarding freedom of expression.
In 2010, President Rafael Correa sued a now-former columnist and three of the paper’s directors under the country’s criminal libel statute because of the column. He demanded prison sentences and a $42 million fine, and he won. Then the president forgave them.
In the United States, a similar case is unthinkable, but in many countries harassment of news media by public officials is common.
I had the opportunity to hear one of the newspaper’s directors talk about the case Tuesday at a conference, “The Inter American System and Freedom of Expression.”
The conference was organized by the Inter American Press Association and sponsored by, among others, the Scripps Howard Foundation. Most of those attending the conference at American Universitiy's Washington College of Law were journalism and law students from South and Central America.
César Pérez, publisher of El Universo was one of the speakers. He detailed the lawsuit and said whoever doesn’t follow the government’s playbook faces lawsuits and prosecution. Correa, he said, has expanded the federal government’s power to control the news media since his election in 2008 through laws and public referendums.
It’s not hard to imagine that conditions in newsrooms there must not be the best, but I was surprised to hear how poorly journalism professionals are treated. One Ecuadorian journalism student told me reporters at some radio stations are paid with advertisers’ products – including beer and circus tickets.
Juan Méndez, United Nations special rapporteur on torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, said a democratic society has to be thoroughly informed, and the only way to have that is to insist that governments have formal obligations to display information.
Kate Doyle, senior analyst at the National Security Archive office in New York, said citizens in these countries began to see transparency and human rights as a need in the 1980s after the military dictatorships supported by the U.S. ended.
But many Latin America countries, such as Brazil, have yet to ensure transparency as a governmental obligation. In 2010, the case of Gomes Lund v. Brazil, was the first international court decision to force the government to open its archives.
Lund, a student and a guerrilla movement member, was killed in 1972 during the dictatorship. His family, and others, finally got the files about their relatives. But others cannot. The amnesty law approved at the end of the regime in 1985 prevented people who tortured and killed civilians from being prosecuted.
These examples of government prosecution of the press and lawmakers effort to keep information from the public make clear that Latin America still has a long way to ensure freedom of expression.
Click on photo to enlarge or download: Prime Minister David Cameron joked that President Barack Obama has the White House better defended today than in 1814 when British set it on fire. SHFWire photo by Robin SiteneskiBy Robin Siteneski
Two martial bands, the National Guard and snipers on the roof. I guess an official visit to President Barack Obama deserves all the pomp and circumstance. I covered Prime Minister David Cameron’s visit to the president and a joint press conference Wednesday.
The British head of government was received on the White House South Lawn. And the cool stuff began there. I wouldn’t have gotten the chance to even enter the Obamas’ temporary residence if it weren’t for the Scripps Howard Foundation Semester in Washington Program. Only people with press passes, White House employees or those who receive an invitation from the president, his staff or his family can go there.
Cameron and his wife, Samantha, were welcomed in the South Lawn. I’ve been to the White House once before but not on the lawn. As you might imagine, you can’t just wander around the White House, try to say hi to Malia and Sasha and invite them to play with Bo. The last time I was at the White House, I went to the State Dining Room and the East Room for the White House Science Fair.
The sunny, and unseasonably warm, South Lawn was filled with 450 children from both countries, other guests and the British and American delegations, which included Vice President Joe Biden. And a lot of journalists.
One of the interesting things about living in Washington is that you meet people from all over. The same happens in the journalism daily assignments. I talked to some French reporters while waiting for the guest of honor and, obviously, could hear a lot of British accents.
Click on photo to enlarge or download: And there they are. Obama and Cameron walk from the Oval Office arrive at the press conference. SHFWire photo by Robin Siteneski
Click on photo to enlarge or download: Television reporters recorded stand-ups and did live reports from the press conference spot, the White House Rose Garden on Tuesday afternoon. SHFWire photo by Robin SiteneskiYou wait around a lot when you go to the White House and other government events. At Cameron’s official arrival, the media had a reserved space on risers between where the National Guard and other guests stood.
I think everybody feels like tickling members of the Armed Forces because they look completely serious. And the National Guard members moved in perfect synchrony as they marched in review.
But, of course, there were signs of the mundane world in the perfectly timed ceremony.
Members of the both cabinets, the vice president and first ladies Michelle Obama and Samantha Cameron stood in places marked by masking tape.
Obama and Cameron exchanged jokes about the unsuccessful table tennis game they played in London last year, Tuesday’s NCAA basketball tournament game in Dayton, Ohio, they saw together and the 1814 fire at the White House set by British soldiers. Obama also joked with reporters.
One woman appears in many of my pictures and in the video. She is the chief of protocol, Capricia Penavic Marshall, employed by the State Department, and in charge of making sure diplomatic encounters go smoothly. Try to spot her in the photos and in the slideshow from Wednesday’s story.I guarantee it will be much easier than “Where’s Waldo?”
Click on photo to enlarge or download: Sara Ganim, reporter at the Harrisburg Patriot-News, speaks Tuesday about how she discovered the sex abuse allegations against Jerry Sandusky, former Penn State assistant football coach, at the National Press Club. Rick Dunham, of the Houston Chronicle, led the discussion. SHFWire photo by Jessica SabbahBy Jessica Sabbah
I got the opportunity Tuesday to hear the reporter who unraveled the scandal that surrounded the allegations against Jerry Sandusky, former Penn State assistant football coach.
The event, “Getting the Story: Sara Ganim of the Harrisburg Patriot-News on Covering the Penn State Story,” was held at the National Press Club.
The two things that I took away from the discussion are the importance of the fundamentals of journalism and using new tools to your advantage.
Ganim, 24, a Penn State grad, said she got her first tip about the scandal from a source after getting in the habit of asking at the end of conversations a simple question: “Is anything else going on?”
This isn’t going to result in a story every day, but a question like this can be quite powerful in building a relationship with your sources.
Months later, she said, the source contacted her and said there was no story.
But when she attended a Second Mile charity event and noticed that the founder, Sandusky, wasn’t there, her suspicions were aroused. She asked around and got conflicting answers about why he wasn’t there. That intuition to ask questions in situations like these goes to the root of what journalism is all about.
From there, she had to do “old-fashion reporting” and dig for the story.
This is a testament to the importance of the basic skills of journalists: interviewing, reporting and writing. With all the different tools available and new ways to tell stories, journalists should never lose sight of what’s important: good journalism.
Ganim was also able to use new tools such as social media and video to her advantage while covering this story.
She used Twitter to break news and video to send quotes back to the office while she was in the field.
No matter what medium you use to get information out there, Ganim had one quote that said it all: “You have to treat everything like it’s next day’s paper or the six o’clock news.”
Click on photo to enlarge or download: While waiting on the president, the energized chatter about the room only emboldened me further to have my "intern" photo taken. Although you can hardly see the podium in the back, it is there - trust me. SHNS photo by Michael CollinsI visited the White House on Thursday to hear President Barack Obama speak about his decision to give waivers to 10 states under the No Child Left Behind law. The waivers allow these states to follow their own educational strategies. Here is a walkthrough of the hour or so I spent on the grounds.
The entry
I felt awkward as I stared through the glass (most likely bulletproof) at the White House guard station. The lady behind the desk looked at me looking at her and said something – I’m not sure what.
I think I assumed that she had asked for my driver’s license as my guide and fellow reporter, Michael Collins, had told me she would. So, I pushed my license into the tray and proceeded to cross my fingers. I was right. The approval to enter slid back across the tray in the form of a small red badge with the word PRESS written in a small white box on the badge.
Entrance achieved! . . . almost. As I ought to have foreseen, there was one final safety precaution – the metal detector. After a moment’s hesitation (not sure why) I proceeded to look awkward as I wrestled off my coat and emptied my pockets into another tray.
The waiting
We made it through security a bit before we needed to line up for the speech, so we took a seat in the press briefing room. It is small and quite blue. The carpet, podium backdrop and even the chairs are all blue. To be honest, I was a bit surprised about how small the room itself is. On TV it looks so much bigger.
Finally, the time had come to move to the East Room where we would be watching the president present. The walk from the press briefing room to the East Room was short, but outside.
Now in the actual room there was, of course, more waiting. In the spare time I asked Michael to snap a quick shot of me before Obama walked in. Everyone in the room was standing and talking with each other, so the picture wasn’t that great, but it gets the point across. I was in the East Room.
The president
Another few minutes of standing around waiting soon ended in complete silence. The time had come for POTUS to walk in. Everyone stared at the podium – presumably waiting on him to rise up from below stage. Instead, he walked through the door on stage left.
As he spoke to the crowd I watched the teleprompter and noted the changes he would make along the way. Rather than using the prompter’s “need” in a couple places he inserted “we’ve got to.” In other places, he addressed specific groups in the audience without the prompter. It was interesting to see how he made the speech his own, even though it was written ahead of time.
He finished with some commendations to school superintendants and state education officials in the audience and Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who was standing next to him. With a final thank you, he was gone. In and out.
All in all the speech took about 10 minutes, but who was paying attention to the time.
Final thought
As this post probably shows, I am still a bit scatterbrained from the entire experience. However, I can say one thing. Regardless of which party you belong to, or even your involvement in the political arena – being in the same room (not the mention the White House) with the president is an absolute thrill.
Click on photo to enlarge or download: Intern Brooke Kelly records at Vanderbilt University's book preservation laboratory for a video assignment during the Chips Quinn Scholars spring multimedia training sessions. Photo by Laura GonzalezBy Brooke Kelly
I left the Chips Quinn orientation/multimedia training Friday with a newfound optimism. It might sound cheesy or clichéd, but I really was encouraged. Oftentimes, the only insight I hear about the journalism industry is that it's a very competitive business, print newspapers are dying and people are getting laid off.
What I valued most during my nine days in Nashville, Tenn., with the Chips Quinn staff and scholars was the encouraging atmosphere. One thing I learned from listening to First Amendment Center President Ken Paulson was that, compared to other careers, journalism jobs often are not even making it to the worst-20-careers-to-have-in-a-recession list. I had no idea that some sources were saying architects and construction workers were the hardest hit by the economy.
The other 11 Chips Quinn Scholars and I were encouraged to not "write our own obituaries." Director of Education at the Freedom Forum Diversity Institute Val Hoeppner gave us a presentation on just how much the Internet and mobile technology are changing journalism. She told us of various economists' predictions that print newspapers could disappear altogether in a few years, save the smallest and largest papers. With the increasing use of mobile devices, Hoeppner emphasized how important it is for us to learn multimedia skills. In response to our fears that the quality of service is suffering during this electronic shift, she gave us the assurance that quality journalism practices will be online in the future. She reminded us that quality often suffers during times of innovation as people figure out how to use new technology.
In addition to encouragement, the Chips Quinn Scholars Program staff offered greatly appreciated multimedia training, writing critiques and exercises and advice on professionalism.
During the nine days, I met great people. The other interns were fun, smart and nice. Listening to industry pioneers, John Seigenthaler and John Quinn, was a special honor. Becoming a Chipster (not a term I made up) has been great! Hopefully, I will keep the momentum going and do great things in the field.
Click on photo to enlarge or download: Sixteen TV crews got reaction interviews after the speech at the Cannon House Office Building. Scripps Howard News Service intern Danielle Cohen, left, and multimedia journalist Kristin Volk go over footage they shot. SHFWire photo by Robin Siteneski.By Robin Siteneski
4:15 p.m.: As we were walking to catch Metro to the Capitol on Tuesday, one of the interns who was going with me to the State of the Union, Salvador Guerrero, remembered an editor’s advice to cover up enthusiasm while reporting on big events: “Act like you’ve been there before.” A tough one to follow – especially in this case. The tickets to the speech were being handed out until 5 p.m.
The room we go in right before getting into the House Press Gallery, on the third floor of the Capitol, is divided into four parts and still has inactive fireplaces and working phone booths that could easily help Clark Kent to turn into Superman. It was already full by the time we got there. With hours to wait, we decided to eat something inside the Capitol complex. It wouldn’t be smart to leave at that point.
5:15 p.m.: We went to the restaurant between the Dirksen and Hart Senate Office Buildings because most of the restaurants were closed elsewhere. My colleagues very appropriately had Senate burgers. As with the other Capitol complex buildings, this one is connected to the Capitol by underground tunnels and trains. A Capitol police officer said we couldn’t enter the Capitol any longer when we were trying to get back at about 6 p.m. My blood pressure went up as if I had just seen Abraham Lincoln’s ghost. The panic attack that would follow was avoided when another officer let us through.
6:30 p.m.: Media elite and mortal interns stood side by side waiting to get into the Press Gallery. Other people who were at the State of the Union for the first time watched the House floor fill up slowly. “It looks much smaller than it does on TV,” they said. I agree.
A Press Gallery employee stepped up on a chair and reviewed the rules – “no phones, no pictures” – and said he had “a very important and exciting video to show you.” The video shows how to use a gas mask. Experienced journalists watched newcomers’ reactions instead of the tape. Everybody laughed at the detailed instructions about how to open the package. I asked the Press Gallery employee if I could bring my camera. Denied. Only a handful of photojournalists can enter the Press Gallery. Some are in a gallery on the other side of the House, and a very few have access to the floor where the President and the members of Congress are.
8:21 p.m.: The first 30 tickets were called. Mine was No. 141. The Press Gallery is above and behind where the president stands. I was on the president’s right hand side. The left was full because first lady Michelle Obama and her guests watched the speech nearby. Among them, Brazilian, Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger. I clapped a little when Mrs. Obama entered. I shouldn’t. Nobody else in the Press Gallery did, except for a few other interns. I remembered Sal’s editor advice at that point.
Senators and the president’s staff entered little by little. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is quite short. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner didn’t shake hands with Republicans sitting in aisle seats. But Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shook hands with everyone.
9 p.m.: The president entered a minute or so after the scheduled start time. Copies of the speech were handed out almost immediately. On the first page, a notification in capitalized letters: EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY. I could see Obama’s head as he delivered, without improvising, the State of the Union, mixing the tone of a father telling off his kids, the Congress that refuses to work in a bipartisanism way, and one of a statesman trying to paint a better picture of the country.
Click on photo to enlarge or download: The Scripps Howard camera was set across the rotunda from the main entrance of the Cannon Office Building. As I walked across the rotunda a few times escorting members of Congress to our camera position, I irritated some reporters who were trying to work10:45 p.m.: The hallways were free, but Frank Bumb and I couldn’t use the tunnels to get to the Cannon House Office Building. We were going there to help Scripps Howard News Service multimedia journalist Kristin Volk find members of Congress and record their reactions to the speech for Scripps’ TV stations. Police officers restricted access to the confusing hallways and led us right to the exit. There were 16 TV crews at the Cannon Building. I received a list of 17 senators and representatives. Frank helped me by pointing out which state they were from in a book with their pictures so I could identify them.
Soon people start leaving the Cannon Building. I was able to identify two of the men on the list, a senator and a House member. Kristen ended up getting 12 of the people she needed to interview. I left the Cannon Building about midnight, but not before getting lost again trying to find my way out, a little disappointed at the small workload during the interviews but still high on adrenaline for being at the State of the Union. Metro had closed, so we caught a cab home.
It’s been an exciting week at the Scripps Howard Foundation Wire. We attended the State of the Union Tuesday night, and I covered my first two meetings on Capitol Hill.
I’ve been on Capitol Hill before, but entering the Rayburn House Office Building for the first time for the meeting was still nerve-wracking. I almost walked around the security check line. I looked so nervous that a U.S. Capitol police officer, who seemed to sense my nervousness, joked that if the detector beeped when I went through, the building would blow up, and when it didn’t, he said that I had “made it.”
I asked him where 2360 Rayburn was and quickly headed to the meeting.
Between that and trying to lead the group around the Capitol Tuesday night, I learned that, despite how serious their jobs requires them to be, the Capitol police are also extremely helpful with directions.
The two meetings I went to fell somewhere between the limited experience I have from attending a few Senate committee meetings and the fictional image built around movies and TV shows.
The “Beltway bubble” quickly became a topic of discussion during the first meeting. Some of the people at the meeting discussed the disconnect and perceived perception problem between black voters, the Republican Party and black members of Congress. It reminded me how easy it is to fall within the “bubble.”
When I went back to Fort Smith, Ark., after being in D.C. for the summer two years ago, I was initially surprised that everyone didn’t want to talk about health care, the latest estimate from the Office of Management and Budget or Supreme Court nominations.
People back home were concerned with other things – how they were going to pay for their next semester of school or if the Whirlpool plant managers were about to announce another round of layoffs. (As it turns out, they were, and the plant will close this year.) President Barack Obama even indirectly mentioned the “Beltway bubble” in his State of the Union speech when he discussed the divide between Wall Street and Main Street: “The divide between this city and the rest of the country is at least as bad - and it seems to get worse every year.”
Thinking about this reminded me that it is more important than ever for journalists to be able to connect the bigger ideas, themes and legislation that are affecting us at a national level, strip them of the jargon and vague rhetoric and inform those across the country how it will affect them at a local level. During the first week of our internship, a couple of the other interns and I met a journalist who shares the floor with Scripps Howard. He said that because we weren’t from Washington, we had foreigners’ eyes and to keep it that way as we cover events. The longer we’re here, the more I see the importance of his advice.
It’s an election year, so half-formed promises will be handed out like lollipops at a doctor’s office, and it’s our job to keep asking questions, keep digging and stay curious.
Twenty-three minutes into the 1 hour and 4 minute State of the Union address, President Barack Obama spoke about the ongoing issue that surrounds students on college campuses around the nation.
“When kids do graduate, the most daunting challenge can be the cost of college,” Obama said. “At a time when Americans owe more in tuition than credit-card debt, this Congress needs to stop the interest rates on student loans from doubling in July.”
In the last 20 years, the average cost of tuition and fees at four-year public universities has increased by 136 percent, according to a statement released by the White House. In 2007, the federal government enacted an interest rate reduction that will expire July 1. Without a new law, the rate will jump from 3.4 percent to 6.8.
“Extend the tuition tax credit we started that saves middle-class families thousands of dollars,” he said. “And give more young people the chance to earn their way through college by doubling the number of work-study jobs in the next five years.”
Although the president urged Congress to re-evaluate the growing concern about the cost of college, he also pushed for states and universities to take matters into their own hands.
“We can’t just keep subsidizing skyrocketing tuition; we’ll run out of money,” Obama said. “States also need to do their part, by making higher education a higher priority in their budgets. And colleges and universities have to do their part by working to keep costs down.”
The president warned colleges and universities that if they cannot halt tuition increases, funding from taxpayers will diminish. That is already happening in some states.
Obama called for the resurrection of the DREAM Act, which would give undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. when they were children and are college students or military service members the opportunity to gain citizenship.
“Let’s also remember that hundreds of thousands of talented, hardworking students in this country face another challenge,” he said, “the fact that they aren’t yet American citizens.”
According to the Immigration Policy Center, approximately 65,000 undocumented students graduate from high school every year (out of about 3 million graduates), but many cannot enroll in college, join the military or work. The House, then controlled by Democrats, passed the DREAM Act in December 2010, but the Senate blocked it.
“Many were brought here as small children, are American through and through, yet they live every day with the threat of deportation,” Obama said. “Others came more recently, to study … but as soon as they get their degree, we send them home to invent new products and create new jobs somewhere else.”
That doesn’t make sense, the president said. Although Obama called for a resurgence of the DREAM Act, he noted that his administration has increased the number of agents along the border, which many say has lowered the number of undocumented immigrants crossing into the U.S.
In a statement released after the State of the Union, Obama called for a continuation of border security at the federal level and said it would hold businesses accountable if they hire undocumented workers.
The president ended the segment of the speech with a push for immigration reform that would stop the expulsion of young people who want jobs in the country.
Click on photo to enlarge or download: The SHFWire interns attended the State of the Union address on Tuesday. Numbered tickets were issued for admittance into the House Press Gallery. SHFWire Photo by Jessica SabbahBy Jessica Sabbah
The Scripps Howard Foundation Wire interns and I got the unique opportunity to attend the State of the Union address on Tuesday night.
We had the chance to witness history in the making through the lens of a reporter.
When the six of us arrived at the Capitol about 4:40 p.m., we headed straight for the House Press Gallery to get our “golden tickets” to the big event.
Since we planned to stay once we got there to avoid having to go through even tighter security later, we came anticipating a four-hour wait until the speech. Some of us grabbed dinner in the ground corridor between Dirksen and Hart. (I got an appropriately named Senate burger combo.)
I also packed a book to help pass the time, but I ended up not needed it, considering my surroundings.
The press gallery was bustling with reporters and photographers. It was cool to be part of that atmosphere and to see and meet some of the most respected journalists doing what they do best. There’s something really fun about being surrounded by other journalists for news events like these.
When the time finally came, our tickets got us a spot in the back of the press gallery, behind where the president stood, where I could see the audience but not the president. I stood for the majority of the speech but was able to grab a seat with a view of the president toward the end of his speech.
It was interesting to see how the whole event was organized, including how Michelle Obama sits with specially selected guests in the First Lady’s Box and the order in which senators, House members, Cabinet members, Supreme Court justices and other officials enter the chamber.
Although I had already seen President Barack Obama in person for a story I covered in October, it was the first time that I had ever seen Mrs. Obama and several other public figures in person: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz, (who resigned the next day) and Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and John Kerry, D-Mass. The House chamber was packed with the some of the most important people in American politics today.
When the president began his address, it was interesting to see how individuals reacted to different parts of his speech, which issues had a partisan divide and which topics seemed to get unanimous approval from the floor.
I’m extremely thankful that I got the opportunity to attend a State of the Union address. I learned a lot from the experience, and I feel like I’m a better journalist because of it. This was definitely a night to remember.
By Frank Bumb
Click on photo to enlarge or download: The spring 2012 interns collected their press passes at the Capitol Tuesday. From left, Brooke Kelly, Salvador Guerrero, Frank Bumb, Elijah Herington, Jordain Carney and Robin Siteneski. SHFWire photoI’d been to Washington before. My college friends and I visited my sophomore year over Memorial Day Weekend, and the trip brought to the fore what had remained a far afield fantasy: I wanted to be a journalist in Washington.
Fast forward to fall 2011. I had been rejected for a number of internships, as most college students certainly are. I had worked at a variety of media outlets, hoping to cast a wide net and raise my chances to be a journalist in the ever-changing media landscape. It’s the classic “jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none” conundrum.
But then I read my inbox one day: the Scripps Howard Foundation Semester in Washington program was looking for interns. I looked at the application, and right there it said: “multimedia skills are definitely a plus.” And I knew that I had to do everything I could to put together the best possible application for this internship.
I assembled my clips (courtesy of my wonderful time at the Archbold Buckeye. I owe my editor, David Pugh, a huge debt of gratitude) on a variety of stories and video from my time at the WOUB Center for Public Media (ditto Michael Rodriguez and Tom Hodson). After several nerve-wracking weeks of waiting, I had the long awaited email telling me that I had been selected. I was on my way to D.C.!
In D.C. this week I met with my fellow interns and was excited to find that they are all intelligent, skilled and personable. Having a Sunday night meal did little to calm our collective nerves. We were all too excited.
Monday morning we woke bright and early despite fitful sleeping by all. Our journey on Metro confirmed yet another advantage of our internship: A swift, 10-15 minute commute even in the heart of D.C.
Our first day was full of protocol, training and preliminary information. Normally such a meeting would be tedious in the extreme. But when preliminary information includes tidbits like a trip to New York for a conference, the vast freedom that we interns would have in selecting our stories and that we could even attend the State of the Union, tedious is an adjective that doesn’t even enter minds. It certainly didn’t enter mine.
Our second day was a guided tour by our director, Jody Beck. And while many people reading this have been on such tours, few have probably been in groups with access to areas reserved for just the press, while having locations pointed out as being the best for finding the senator you want to talk to.
I’ve been in D.C. for four days, and I’m already scheduled to cover my first story tomorrow morning. The training wheels are off, and I’m expected to go out and get my story on my own. Ditto my fellow interns.
Tomorrow looks to be another exciting day in D.C.
