When David Redlawsk accepted his invitation to speak to the Covering Politics class, he thought he would just be lecturing on the then upcoming Johnson County Democratic Convention. Instead, journalism students treated the assistant political science professor and former acting chair of the Johnson County Democratic Party to a press conference, minus the blinding camera flashes and intrusive microphones.

“Professor Redlawsk, how does the fact that Iowa City is overwhelmingly Democrat affect the dynamics of local politics?” someone asked.

“Why are voters bombarded with negative campaign ads? Do they really work?” another inquired. The aggressive questioning continued.

“It was interesting to see someone outside of their comfort zone,” Jeanne Peloquin, a sophomore from Waterloo, said. “I don’t think he was too worried because it was a classroom, but to make him think was a bit fun.”

Professor Basil Talbott said the press conference was among many in-class exercises designed to help students in his Covering Politics course learn how to ask and follow up questions to public officials. The new Specialized Reporting and Writing class, to be offered again in the fall, is the first University of Iowa journalism course in nearly 20 years to focus on giving students practice in reporting and writing on local government.

Besides grilling guest speakers like Iowa City Mayor Ernie Lehman and Lyle Muller, the chief of investigations for The Gazette, students regularly attend and report on municipal government meetings. Beats include the local courts, Iowa State Board of Regents and Iowa City Planning and Zoning Commission. After cultivating sources and looking out for story ideas at meetings, students write articles to be critiqued by the rest of the class and talk about the challenges they faced in reporting and writing.

Peloquin, who has been covering the Johnson County Board of Supervisors, said the class has taught her to find alternative ways to speak to unwilling sources. When the Johnson County chief deputy refused to talk to her, she mentioned it to the sheriff. Since the sheriff introduced her to the chief deputy, she hasn’t had a problem.

Though Peloquin said the Thursday Board of Supervisors meetings were intimidating at first, her fear was alleviated in realizing she wouldn’t have much competition from other reporters. Of the three local newspapers, only The Gazette regularly sent a correspondent. Peloquin said her continual presence at the meetings has led to a greater openness among the board members in answering her questions.

“I’ve started to enjoy going to the meetings, because now I go, and they all know me and want to tell me stuff,” she said. “I found out that all the supervisors know my name, but they don’t know the Gazette reporter who’s been there twice as long.”

Talbott said the key to government reporting is to look beyond what the public officials may claim is important and learn how to find the real story. “They talk in this mumbo jumbo, governmentese, officialese that puts anyone to sleep. Of course, that’s the purpose of it, so they can do their own stuff that people don’t approve of,” he said. “A reporter has to translate.”

Talbott said he is pleased with the progress his students are making in covering their beats. Early on in the course, he took them to an Iowa City City Council meeting, where they were surprised to see how the city is run and who is running it. Now, he said, they are regularly calling up public officials and learning the differences between the local governing bodies.

Brian Morelli, a senior from Iowa City, is a prime example. In covering the Iowa City City Council and comparing his experiences with those of the Coralville City Council class reporter, Morelli has been able to make a judgment on the relationship between Iowa City and Coralville.

“It’s sort of a competition. I think that Coralville seems to be on one path, and Iowa City seems to be on another,” Morelli said. “Like Coralville seems very progressive—they’re building up, whereas the Iowa City City Council seems very conservative and not quite as willing to make the kind of jumps that Coralville is.”

Though Talbott offers over 35 years of experience in covering politics for the City News Bureau of Chicago, Chicago Sun-Times and Congress Daily, he said he prefers not to tell many “war stories.” Instead, Peloquin said he suggests more than he dictates and lets students do most of the critiquing, while remaining a helpful resource on where to look for information.

Morelli said he hopes his experience in the course will serve as a “good launching pad” to distinguish him from others wishing to work at a newspaper. Talbott agrees, adding that in every field of journalism, it is likely a young reporter will be asked to cover a court hearing.

 “If you don't have the background in how to cover government, you’re really lacking, or if you never have really seen what a city council meeting looks like, it's going to be hard to adjust,” he said. “So I think it is a good background to have.”
By Shelbi Thomas