Reporters seek out BGSU experts

When it comes to covering the 2004 political scene, news organizations ranging from the Associated Press to Der Spiegel, MSNBC and ABC’s Nightline have sought out BGSU faculty and students for interviews.

Faculty in history, political science, economics, popular culture and speech communication, among others, have been interviewed, reports BGSU Media Relations Director Teri Sharp.

“When the news media call Marketing & Communications for assistance, we try to link them to faculty scholars who can provide them—and ultimately the public—with factual information and expert opinion based upon thorough knowledge of the subject,” Sharp explains.

With the presidential campaign and the war in Iraq dominating the news, many requests for assistance have been questions related to these topics. Reporters also are asking about student involvement in the presidential campaigns and voter registration.

“For those of us involved in promoting the University, it’s gratifying to have reporters so interested in talking with our students and faculty scholars, and to have them be so willing to assist journalists,” Sharp said, adding, “It’s also nice to see the University’s reputation further enhanced by BGSU experts being quoted in the news.”

Here’s a sampling of television appearances and stories in which BGSU sources have been quoted:
In July, Marc Simon, chair of political science, discussed the film “Fahrenheit 9/11” during a live interview on AM Saturday, the WTOL-TV news magazine. An expert on terrorism and the Middle East, he appeared on Channel 11’s News Talk with Jerry Anderson Sept. 20, the day a Hillsdale, Mich., man working in Iraq was beheaded. He made a second appearance on AM Saturday on Sept. 25, when he discussed terrorism and attacks against Americans in Iraq.

David Jackson, political science, whose dissertation and recent book examined the impact of the entertainment industry on the youth vote, was interviewed by the Associated Press for the story, “Bush a little bit country, Kerry is rock ‘n’ roll,” which appeared online and in newspapers nationwide. Sarah Kellogg from the Washington Bureau of Newhouse News interviewed him for a Sept. 26 article “MoveOn concerts hope to move voters—to the polls.” The story appeared on www.Mlive.com, a Web site for a Michigan daily newspaper conglomerate.

In addition, Jackson was interviewed by Minnesota Public Radio about the presidential race in Ohio; WTVG-TV in Toledo, about youth and the African-American vote; The Blade and the Associated Press, about the selection of music used at campaign rallies; The Plain Dealer, about northwest Ohio politics and provisional voting in Ohio, and CJSW radio in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, about the relationship between entertainment and politics.

More recently, Jackson discussed campaign music on ABC-TV’s Nightline. That segment aired Oct. 18.
Political scientist Jeffrey Peake is a media commentator on elections, presidential politics and public opinion. Since providing commentary during President Bush’s first northwest Ohio visit last winter for FOX News in Toledo, he has been interviewed by WTVG-TV and WTOL–TV and newspapers in Bowling Green, Cleveland, Columbus, Fort Wayne and Toledo, among others. On Oct. 11, he discussed the presidential election on MSNBC’s “Lester Holt Live” program via satellite from the studios of WBGU-TV.

Martin Wolk, chief economics correspondent for MSNBC.com, called from Seattle seeking information on northwest Ohio’s economy. After talking with economist Michael Carroll, he decided to personally visit the region. Carroll assisted him in making local connections. The result was a positive story about business in Wood County and an online link for MSNBC.com readers to the Web pages of the University’s Center for Policy Analysis and Public Service.

Art instructor Gordon Ricketts gave his personal political views to Joe Hallett, author of a page-one look at voters in Wood and Lucas Counties that appeared Sept. 17 in the Columbus Dispatch.

The Detroit News interviewed Jeremy Wallach, popular culture, for the Sept. 29 story, “Fired-up musicians play politics,” while music archivist Bill Schurk revealed to The Blade’s Ryan Smith in a Oct. 6 article that Jerome Library has a CD copy of a recording by John Kerry’s band, “The Electras.”

The Blade followed up with “Area collegians ask peers to vote Nov. 2” in which reporter Kim Bates described how BGSU students are mobilizing to register voters to cast their first presidential vote.
Kelly Lecker of the Columbus Dispatch also was interested in what BGSU students are thinking. She talked with Monika Winkler, president of the College Republicans, for her Sept. 3 story, “Concert tour aimed at booting Bush.”

Paul Alday, director of forensics and debate, and members of the BGSU debate team watched President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry debate on Oct. 6, then went on the TV-13 eleven o’clock news to offer their post-debate analysis live from the Bowen-Thompson Student Union.

Political science instructor Tom Wiseman, a former mayor of the city of Defiance and a Defiance County commissioner, was sought out by the AP for a series of articles about resulting conflicts between the various levels of government. An Aug. 28 story, “Ohio GOP in Midst of Money Scandal,” appeared in the MaconTelegraph.com, pennlive.com, Akron Beacon Journal, Philadelphia Inquirer, the Guardian in the United Kingdom, Tallahassee Democrat, San Jose Mercury News, Duluth News Tribune, Tuscaloosa News, Newsday in New York, the Charlotte Observer in North Carolina and the Miami Herald, among scores of other newspapers and Web sites. He was quoted again in national Associated Press coverage of the Republican National Convention. One of the stories, “As Ohio GOP comes home, pressure on to put problems aside for Bush’s sake,” appeared on the popular boston.com Web site.

NPR affiliate WPKT-FM, which serves Hartford and New Haven, Conn., aired a story Sept. 2 in which popular culture professor Jack Santino discussed the symbiotic relationship between politicians and celebrities, particularly the political use of celebrities.

When reporter Alexander Osang and photographer Thomas Dworzak from the German news magazine Der Spiegel were in town working on a story, Scott Borgelt of Marketing & Communications spent an afternoon giving them a campus tour. The reporter made a total of three visits to the community for an article about what people in this university town think about presidential politics and the war in Iraq.

Liette Gidlow, history, made three appearances on Toledo’s Channel 11, where she discussed the Democratic and Republican national conventions. She also offered perspective on how presidential illness raises public awareness of disease in a Sept. 15 Columbus Dispatch article, “Suddenly, baby boomers feel Clinton’s pain.” In addition, she was interviewed Sept. 26 by MSNBC/Newsweek on Air, which is heard on 83 radio stations across the country, and on Oct. 1, by the national ABC Radio Network on Oct. 1.

NPR-affiliate WPKT-FM, which serves Hartford and New Haven, Conn., aired a story Sept. 2 in which popular culture professor Jack Santino discussed the symbiotic relationship between politicians and celebrities, particularly the political use of celebrities. He also did a commentary on the political conventions for Public Radio International and an interview with NPR’s Morning Edition about the ribbon-shaped car magnets that are cropping up everywhere.