In January 2003, University News Services registered
six “hits”—articles or broadcasts
in local, regional, national, or international news
media—that specifically had to do with politics
and the University. But this past January, the University
was cited in more than 250 newspapers, radio programs,
television programs, and web news accounts around the
world.
The eyes of the media were fastened on Iowa’s
Democratic Party caucuses, and UNS and UI political
experts raced to keep up with hundreds of requests
for interviews. While many University employees enjoyed
the winter break, these experts talked with journalists
and broadcasters from all over the world.
“We were blown away—not only by the
volume of attention, but also our professors’ willingness
to help. They were eager to share their expertise,” says
Mary Geraghty Kenyon, who with George McCrory and
UNS director Linda Kettner handled inquiries for
University News Services. “I think it shows
the depth of their commitment not only to teaching
and research but also to service.
“We had tremendous assets to offer in our
faculty members, and they were willing to do what
it took.”
Assets from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
included Peverill Squire, David Redlawsk, and Gary
Segura, political science; Basil Talbott and Jane
Singer, journalism and mass communication; Doug Jones,
computer science; Bruce Gronbeck, communication studies;
and Fred Antczak, rhetoric. Also frequently called
upon were the codirectors of the Iowa Electronic
Markets: Bob Forsythe, Joyce Berg, Tom Rietz, George
Neumann, and Forrest Nelson in the Tippie College
of Business.
Redlawsk had planned ahead—his winter session
class on the Iowa caucuses, which had just ended
when the caucuses drew near, meant that he was up-to-date
on all aspects of the caucuses, he says. Sitting
in an office covered with student caucus posters
and papers, he was keyed up several days after the
caucuses were over.
“It wasn’t just the requests from the
journalists and keeping up with my class that kept
me busy,” he says. “Just before the caucuses,
I unexpectedly became acting chair of the Johnson
County Democratic Party when the previous chair resigned.”
Squire, who for years has been a popular source
of expertise for the media, says caucus-related inquiries
started coming in last year as early as late summer.
Although he doesn’t know how many interview
requests he granted, UNS tallied 18 interviews that
were published on Jan. 20 alone—in such newspapers
as The Christian Science Monitor, The
New York Times,
The Washington Post, The Washington
Times, Newsday,
and the Los Angeles Times, among others. Squire’s
media appearances before the caucuses included CNN
and National Public Radio, and on caucus night he
was interviewed on CBS News.
“My guess is that in the five or six days
leading up to the caucuses, I did 75 interviews,” he
says. “There were so many different kinds of
media outlets—from the direct marketing newspaper
Investors Business Daily to Education Week, for example.
My days were packed.”
While some of the “hits” were media
with limited reach, McCrory adds, CNN’s Crossfire broadcast live from campus Jan. 14 and interviewed
George Neumann, George Daly Professor of Economics,
about the Iowa Electronic Markets.
Basil Talbott, John F. Murray Lecturer in Journalism,
was interviewed by Al-Jazeera, the Arabic news service
based in Qatar, reaching its estimated 40 million
viewers in several Mideast countries. Talbott, a
former political editor for the Chicago Sun-Times and a 35-year veteran of newspaper journalism, covered
political campaigns back to 1968.
“I enjoyed seeing my colleagues from those
days, such as (CBS News’ chief Washington correspondent)
Bob Schieffer and Morton Kondracke (executive editor
and columnist for Roll Call, Capitol Hill independent
newspaper), who were here covering the caucuses,” he
says.
Talbott also was asked by the State Department to
brief 115 representatives of foreign news outlets
who were among the 1,000 media representatives certified
to cover the caucuses.
When the caucuses ended and journalists flew out
from Iowa, these professors faced their paper-strewn
desks and prepared for the first day of a new semester.
UNS, meanwhile, began to gather statistics on the
intense coverage.
Kenyon believes the flood of attention the University
received was the result of planning that began last
summer. For the 2000 caucuses, UNS had prepared a
10-page media guide with information on all of the
University’s relevant experts, which she believes
was “somewhat helpful” but perhaps too
hefty for journalists to carry around.
This year, UNS distributed a laminated wallet-size
list of experts willing to give out their home or
cell phone numbers and take calls whenever they came
in. Reporters could carry the card in their wallets
or backpacks. Additional information, including names
of other experts, was posted on the UNS web page.
That tactic worked well, Kenyon says.
In addition, Kenyon and McCrory traveled to Des
Moines to seek out reporters.
“We took 900 copies of a flier that George
had developed, listing our experts, to go into the
press kits given to accredited media,” Kenyon
says. “We went to the hotels where reporters
were registered, to the debates, and to other places
where we could meet reporters. We went to the Associated
Press office in Des Moines, and the next day a story
quoting Fred Antczak was in at least 50 newspapers
nationwide. It was great to see the effort pay off.”
Overall, she says, the caucus coverage created or
perpetuated a positive impression of the University’s
responsiveness and professors’ knowledge and
accessibility. The resulting goodwill suggests that
news media are likely to come back to the University
for further information.
“It’s a fascinating process,” Squire
says. “I think some of this will carry over
into a good impression of Iowa. Now, I’m back
to teaching and research, what I normally do, having
finished a period of service. It’s fun, and
we have useful information to convey that is good
for our department and the University.”
by Anne Tanner
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