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A Record of Brown Bag Breakfasts

The Washington Journalism Center is pleased to host to a number of weekly Friday speakers. These distinguished individuals come from a variety of well-known media vehicles such as national newspapers, political magazines and major news stations. Every Friday morning these guests join the students for breakfast before taking the stage to address topics relevant to reporting from the nation's capital.

Please browse through the various experts who have donated their Friday mornings to share their knowledge and personal experiences with the students of the Center.

Fall 2009

Alex Kingsbury

Nov. 13, 2009

Alex Kingsbury is as comfortable in a war zone as he is chasing leads from the nation’s capital, though it’s awfully hard switching from the former to the latter.

“It was difficult to go back,” Kingsbury, speaking to Boston University Washington News Service reporters, said of returning from covering Iraq for U.S. News and World Report. “Everything afterwards seems really boring.”

Yet from the way Kingsbury talked excitedly about the Washington reporting he now does, it was apparent the Maine native doesn’t find journalism too boring.

Kingsbury on covering his national security beat via court documents: “Reading indictments, for as nerdy and dorky as it sounds, is really fascinating.”

With budgets tight all around the news industry, Kingsbury said he has had to adapt quickly to using different technologies and writing a variety of stories.

At George Washington University, where he was completing degrees in history and English, Kingsbury’s interest in journalism was sparked by a stint as a researcher for National Public Radio. From there he went on to receive a master’s in journalism from Columbia University.

After a short segue onto the topic of domain names – he told the students to buy their own to better control what comes up when people Google them – the discussion centered on war reporting. Kingsbury likened the experience to a drug.

“You can do it for a while, but if you don’t stop it gets intense,” he said. “It’s incredibly boring and terrifying in the same 80 seconds.”

Chuck Babington

Nov. 6, 2009

Chuck Babington seems like he can handle anything, including former Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., interrupting his lecture to the reporters of the Boston University Washington News Service.

Babington imparted his Washington advice to the journalists on Friday, November 6, in the Senate Press Gallery. He has worked in Washington for years with many publications, including the Washington Post, but now covers the White House for the Associated Press. He made it clear to the students that it was a challenging position.

“At AP we have to cover everything, the big things and the little things,” Babington said. “We can’t wait even a minute to get something on the wire.”  

Babington splits his time between the White House and the Capitol when Congress is in session.  He said he enjoys the variety of covering the White House from the congressional angle.

“You have to be able to do a little bit of everything,” he said. Babington continued by telling the group that the best journalists know their beat and can give their stories depth and context.

In the middle of telling the group about how the AP White House bureau deals with presidential trips and campaign coverage, Burns, the former senator from Montana, walked into the room.

Burns took a seat and told the group about his travels since holding office. The Montana Republican was eager to engage the group in discussion about the health care debate and the tea party movement.

“People are scared of government right now,” Burns said. “This country is focused on this town because they think this town has lost its way.”

Erika Niedowski

Oct. 30, 2009

For Erika Niedowski, the assistant managing editor of Washington City Paper and an experienced feature writer, “long narrative articles should be heavily reported.”

“Feature writing does not excuse you from being a good reporter,” Niedowski told Boston University journalism students October 30, adding that journalists should be able to report on any topic.

Niedowski began covering city council while reporting for a suburban Maryland newspaper. She moved to political reporting for The Hill – where she interned as an undergraduate – focused on medical reporting for the Baltimore Sun and became the paper’s last Moscow bureau chief.

Before joining City Paper, Niedowski did a stint as the U.S. bureau chief for the Abu Dhabi-based National.

Niedowski said narrative writing, among the different disciplines of journalism, is the most misunderstood. During her career she has come up with her own feature writing rules, which she calls the three Fs.

 “A feature story should be: Not too Fluffy, (2) not necessarily Four hundred words and (3) not Flowery,” said Niedowski.

Talking about her nomination as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2004, when she was covering the medical beat for The Baltimore Sun, Niedowski said she was reporting about a child who died in a hospital after an infection.

Her subject, however, was not the little girl, but her grieving mother, who finally partnered with the hospital to improve patient safety.

“You need to live what they live, to see what they see,” said Niedowski.  She said the reporter’s notebook is usually an impediment in forming relationships. “No one wants to talk to a reporter,” she said. “But everybody wants to tell a story to a human being. Go with your instinct.”

Susan Milligan

Oct. 23, 2009

The weekly breakfast discussion began with a sobering assessment of the news business. Susan Milligan, a Washington correspondent for the Boston Globe, looked around the room and noted that the students were the last bastion of Capitol reporting for each of their newspapers.

“It’s pretty alarming,” Milligan said, bemoaning the recent closings of newspaper bureaus in Washington.

But the veteran political reporter soon turned on the charm, cracking jokes, starting a lively question and answer session, and telling war stories.

Befitting the main focus of lawmakers and the public lately, the first topic was health care reform.

“It’s an historic time to be in Washington,” Milligan said.

Yet it’s important to step back occasionally and avoid group-think, Milligan said, especially when it comes to the news media’s increasing obsession with political strategy and behind-closed-doors decision-making.

“It’s almost freakish now, like that’s the only story,” Milligan said.

Still, Capitol Hill is a good place to stretch your legs as a reporter because it’s the “best listening post in Washington,” according to Milligan.

When she was 32, Milligan worked as a freelance reporter in Budapest, she said. There she wrote an assortment of stories and learned about different cultures.

“If you can find a way to live abroad, I’d definitely do it,” Milligan said.

Milligan told students her most exciting tale of covering war in the Balkans.

She and a few colleagues spotted a burning village as they drove through Kosovo, and in a decision they almost immediately regretted, went to see what was going on. Moments later they were on the ground, rifles of paramilitary soldiers at their heads. After tense negotiations, heavily reliant on the soldiers’ love of Chicago, the journalists were freed.

“We didn’t have guns,” Milligan said. “We would have been dead if we did.” 

David Tamasi

Oct. 19, 2009

David Tamasi is a lobbyist, but he is quick to tell you, “I prefer to call it advocacy.”

Tamasi has worked for over 15 years in public relations and lobbying.  He spoke to journalists at the BU Washington Center on Monday, Oct. 19, about how to work with lobbyists to obtain different angles on an issue.

“Our job, particularly as it relates to you all, is to make you aware there is some kind of inequity,” he said.

Tamasi, a senior vice president for Massachusetts-based Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications, works in Washington. Among his clients are Boston Power, First Wind, Iron Mountain, Mediacom Communications, Paine College and the Hospital of Saint Raphael.. 

Lobbyists work with the media to help educate other audiences on their issues, Tamasi said.

Tamasi has a Master of Science in journalism from Boston University and covered politics for the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune and The Falmouth Enterprise.

“You can break stories and find pockets of information, you just don’t want to be slaves to these press offices out here,” Tamasi said.

David Mark

Oct. 16, 2009

Niche journalism is the future of newspapers, according to David Mark, a senior editor at Politico.

Journalism that focuses on one subject “used to have a negative connotation, because it meant you weren’t covering the big picture; you were only writing for insiders,” Mark said. “I think now that is a positive thing…We are really glad to see news organizations specialize on what they are really good at.”

In Politico –“a hybrid newspaper-Web site that covers strictly politics, Mark said – stories about the Metro accident or the Redskins Sunday game usually “fall by the wayside.”

Mark, who was formerly editor-in-chief of Campaigns & Elections magazine, spoke to Boston University students Oct. 16.

He mentioned that Politico’s reporters try to have a different take about their stories. “We don’t chase the story of the day,” he said. “We don’t do AP style quick headlines. We try to get the story behind the scenes.”

Politico relies a lot in getting free publicity, Mark said. “This is one of the best ways to brand, because people know us for our journalism,” he said. “If you have a good story, why not talk about it?’

Answering students’ questions, Mark elaborated on how journalists should tailor their stories so that they attract readers and advertisers.

“I think that it is important for journalists to know the business model and know what news consumers want out there,” he said. “You have to be adaptable. You must have that crusading element to give readers and viewers what they need to know, but there is also an element: giving them what they want to know.” 

Mark, the author of “Going Dirty: The Art of Negative Campaigning,” has worked at Politico since January 2007. He has also worked for Congressional Quarterly and Associated Press.

James Carroll

Oct. 9, 2009

For James Carroll, a veteran Washington reporter, journalism is education. As an undergraduate studying political science at Boston University, he tried unsuccessfully to sneak into journalism courses, so he got a job as a copy boy and worked his way up the ladder.

More than 30 years later, Carroll continues to learn every day as an award-winning regional reporter covering the nation’s capital. Carroll stressed the educational aspect of the profession with students from BU’s Washington Journalism Program during a Friday-morning class. He also managed to get in a few jokes.

“It’s really like an on-going, never-ending graduate course,” Carroll said of reporting in Washington. “That’s why you’re all in journalism, huh, not for the money, that’s for sure.”

Carroll has written since 1997 for The Louisville Courier-Journal and Gannett News Service, where his stories often appear in USA Today and Gannett newspapers. Before that Carroll wrote for the Knight-Ridder newspapers. He is also the author of two books, on presidents John F. Kennedy and Woodrow Wilson.

The students got an education themselves from Carroll’s insightful, anecdote-ridden speech and question and answer session. The talk focused on covering Washington, especially how to deal with sources, anonymous and otherwise.

“This place (Washington) leaks like a sieve, which is great for us,” Carroll said.

Some of his stories highlighted “the chance to do cool stuff” like traveling to Israel with Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., going to Iraq with McConnell’s wife, and covering the Paris Air Show.

Carroll implored the students to show their value to colleagues and readers back home by utilizing the unique access granted them by their beat.

“You are a resource for your news outlet,” he said.

Jeffrey Birnbaum

Oct. 5, 2009

Jeffrey Birnbaum, managing editor of The Washington Times, shared his knowledge of numbers with journalists at the BU Washington Journalism Center on Oct. 5. 

Birnbaum encouraged the small gathering of journalists to comb through campaign contribution databases for compelling numbers. 

“There are three things lawmakers care about the most: getting reelected, getting reelected and getting reelected,” he said during his conversation with the journalism students. Birnbaum reminded the group that an incumbent needs a significant amount of money to fulfill that goal.  

He has spent his career working for many news organizations such as The Washington Post, Fortune, Time and The Wall Street Journal.  His most recent book, “The Money Men,” focused on campaign fundraising.  

Birnbaum emphasized the importance of being familiar with campaign contributions and generating good story ideas from them, but warned that numbers can be deceiving.

“Don’t stop reporting at your computer,” he said. Pick up the phone and call the lawmaker to find the story behind the numbers, he told the students. 

Dave Levinthal

Sept. 30, 2009

Dave Levinthal, editor of the Capitol Eye blog and communications director for the Center for Responsive Politics, showed students on Sept. 30 how they can use the center’s Web site to write stories on subjects varying from politics to football and even entertainment.

The Center for Responsive Politics is an independent and nonprofit research group that tracks money in U.S. politics. Its Web site is OpenSecrets.org.

“Our bread and butter is tracking finance and lobbying,” Levinthal told the Political Reporting students in the BU Washington Journalism Program. “We try to take all of this raw – often times very dense – federal data….and turn it into something that is going to be useful to a reporter or a political activist.”

Prior to joining the center in June 2009, Levinthal – who describes himself as a “purely online journalist” – was reporting on Dallas City Hall and national politics for The Dallas Morning News.

The Center for Responsive Politics, which was launched following the 1996 elections, has received four Webby Awards.

Keith White

Sept. 18, 2009

Keith White knows about covering Washington.  He has been in Washington for 23 years and worked as a regional reporter.  He spoke to Washington Journalism students on Friday September 18 about his current congressional perspective as editor of Congress Daily. 

“As regional reporters, you’re really the only resource your readers back home have,” White said to a room of students responsible for reporting to New England readers each week. 

White is a third generation journalist and was born and raised in Oklahoma.  He started writing for his parents’ weekly newspaper when he was 14-years-old.  After completing his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, he worked for the Tulsa Tribune and directed the University of Missouri’s journalism graduate program.

White worked for Gannett News Service for many years where he covered Washington for many states across the country.  He began working for Congress Daily in 1996 and worked his way up to editor.  Congress Daily publishes two editions a day and focuses on major legislation in Congress. 

White talked about topics ranging from energy to appropriations, telling the reporters that there are key issues beyond health care to pay attention to this fall. 

White was also eager to share some advice on working with press secretaries.  “Press secretaries are not there to help you,” he said, encouraging students to remember that “there’s always another side.”   

Spring 2007

Tom Bowman
April 9, 2007 

It’s been more than a decade since Tom Bowman started covering the Pentagon, and he still calls it “the best beat in town.” Bowman worked at the Baltimore Sun for 19 years before moving to NPR, where he is currently Pentagon correspondent.

“The Pentagon is really like a city hall,” Bowman told Boston University Washington Journalism Center students on April 9. “There are a million stories just walking down the halls.”

Bowman shared his experiences reporting from Iraq—he has visited the country multiple times to report on the war—and how he transitioned from print to radio journalism. He said his print background allows him to frame stories around facts and numbers, “the backbone of the story,” versus merely good sound clips.  But in either medium, Bowman said, a reporter has to always be fair to sources.

He also advised the reporters to search for stories the press hasn’t covered—even if that means working against the will of editors.

“Do what you want. Not what your editors want you to do,” he said. “All good journalism is done in defiance of editors. The point of journalism is to have a long leash and have fun.” 

MICHELLE JACONI
April 4

Michelle Jaconi, producer and political analyst for Meet the Press, spoke to Boston University journalism students April 4, doling out advice on the importance of passion, connections, and initiative.

“Frankly I think the thing you're happiest doing is the thing you’re really good at,” Jaconi said.  Her role at Meet the Press combines “the rush of the deadline” with the depth of doing things in detail.   “That was the blend I wanted,” she said.

Jaconi reminded students to keep in touch with their fellow interns.  “[They] might be the president of a company one day,” she said.   “Your generation is very lucky.  This internship thing has helped everybody,” she said.  Her recommended form of communication?   “You have the best, best tool in email,” she said.

As for success on the job, Jaconi emphasized research.  “I think the biggest error in researching is using Wikipedia… using things without knowing the sources” or knowing the motivations of those sources, “knowing who’s paying,” she said.   “I would never use anything anyone gave me without checking it myself… I love Lexus Nexus.  It's my favorite thing in the world,” Jaconi said. 

To achieve general success, Jaconi recommended taking initiative.  “There are so many things that people wonder about and never research…. It's really just about not being lazy.”

Asked about the purported liberal bias of the press, Jaconi said, “The press’ bias is trouble.  Sometimes there is more of an emphasis on gotcha journalism than on good gotcha journalism.”

“I do think there is… validity to the claim that there is a liberal bias to journalism as a whole,” largely because journalism has transformed into a hobby and profession of the educated elite, she said.   But, she added, “at the national level, covering politics, it is very balanced.”  Because the goal is finding the holes in each side, she believes journalists must look at both sides with equal skepticism to be successful. 

Kevin Merida, Washington Post
March 19 

The question of George W. Bush’s intellect—whether he had the brains to lead the country—surfaced in nearly every story written about the 2001 presidential candidate.  So Kevin Merida, then a Washington Post Style section reporter, took the somewhat sarcastic question and turned it into a profile on Bush’s brain.

“It was the result of so many paragraphs in stories,” Merida said of the buzz-generating article, which he used as an example of profile writing while speaking to Boston University Washington journalism students on March 19.

Merida has worked at the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the Dallas Morning News and the Washington Post, where he is currently an associate editor.  When writing a profile, Merida said the key is the choice of subject, and to think about what you would like to read about that person that has not been in the paper.  “A lot that I read I’m uninspired by,” he said.  “It’s almost like dutiful coverage.”

Merida also relies heavily on observation, which allows him to write the “most interesting things” about people he may never be able to talk to.  Great scenes can always fit into writing, he said.  “There is something to be said for observation, even when the observation is unexpected.” 

LES KRETMAN
March 7

Les Kretman, a White House producer for NBC News, told Boston University Washington journalism students to start locally in their careers, as he did. 

“In most cases... starting locally” is a good career strategy, he said.  Before his job at NBC, Kretman worked as assistant news director for WBZ-TV, executive producer at WHDH-TV and WCVB-TV in Boston. 

Since then, Kretman has traveled all over the world covering the president.  He even served as a producer assigned to NBC’s bureau in Frankfurt, Germany.

A graduate of Boston University himself, Kretman is on the advisory board of Boston University’s Communications School.

Asked about the role of new technology on the media, Kretman said, “The whole dynamic – it's all becoming one”  The Internet, Kretman said, is the future of journalism.

Kretman, who was nominated for an Emmy in 2002 and received an Emmy in 2005 for his coverage of the Ronald Reagan’s funeral, emphasized the importance of quality reporting.   “I'm a big advocate for really learning how to write… really becoming a reporter,” he advised students.

Mark Thompson, Time Magazine
March 5 

Mark Thompson knows a thing or two about enterprise reporting.  A reporter in Washington since 1979, who currently writes for Time Magazine, he has covered the federal government’s response to Hurricane Katrina, post-9/11 vulnerability, domestic violence in military families, and a fatal design flaw in Army helicopters—a series which won him a Pulitzer Prize.

“The best reporters are insecure overachievers,” said Thompson, who spoke to Boston University Washington Center students on March 5.  That means juggling longer-term reporting with daily stories, knowing a subject 150 percent, and realizing when a project just won’t work.

Though Thompson has covered federal politics and the military extensively, he said the best stories are always about people.  Reporters should act as a spotlight, Thompson said, because then individuals guide the story, making it interesting and relevant.   

Susan Milligan

"I think the best thing you can do is distinctive coverage in Washington … do something no one else is doing," Susan Milligan, the Boston Globe's senior political correspondent, and a reporter and freelancer for more than 20 years, told Boston University students March 2.

At age 32, Milligan moved overseas to cover the war in Kosovo as a freelance reporter.  Acknowledging the risks and sharing an anecdote in which she was "surrounded by machine guns," Milligan called her experience both difficult and life-changing.   "I loved it," she said.

Milligan said she learned about the differences between cultures.  "People think everyone in the world want to live just like us. And that's not true.  It's just not true." But there are common denominators, she said.  "[All] people want to… feed their families, send their kids to good schools, and feel safe in their homes."

Milligan shared this advice for freelancers reporting in war zones: Team up with other reporters to stay safe.

"It's not glamorous.  It really is not.  I was scared every day."   That fear, she said, kept her judgment sharp.

Milligan also recommended that hopeful freelancers include magazines, in addition to newspapers, in their networks.  Freelancers must be both good reporters as well as good business people, she said. 

"It's an uncertain life," but ultimately you are in control, she said. 

Keith White 

Not too many kids get to be the sports editor of a newspaper by age 14. But as a third generation journalist from Oklahoma and a staffer for his family newspaper, Keith White was on the fast track to journalistic success.

Throughout his career White covered politics and regional news for the Tulsa Tribune, Gannett and the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Now the executive editor of CongressDailyPM, White has not forgotten the importance of regional reporting.

He told Boston University Washington Journalism Program students that if they dig into the federal budget they can always find earmarks that affect their local readers and viewers.

“Legislative reporting is either the hardest or easiest thing to do,” White said.

What makes it hard? Press secretaries top White’s list of challenges.

“Press secretaries are not your friend. Always treat your press secretary at arms length,” he said. “It’s the personal stuff that digs into them.”

David Baumann

In the seemingly dry $2.9 trillion proposed federal budget for 2008 there are a plenty of important regional news stories for the Boston University Washington Journalism Program students to cover. And budget earmarks, said National Journal congressional correspondent David Baumann, are usually the best source of those stories.

The biggest question during this budget session, Bauman said– “Will earmark requests be made public?”

Baumann recommended students focus budget stories on the war, education and veterans health, as those are the most talked about topics this fiscal year.

In addition to his daily reporting, Baumann writes a twice-monthly column on Congress for NationalJournal.com, as well as a column on the federal budget for CongressDaily AM. He has also worked for CongrssDaily, The Republic newspaper in Columbus, Ind. And Education Daily.

Because of his education background, Baumann was able to give students tips on covering No Child Left Behind. His top piece of advice– look to education groups outside of the government for the best analyses.

BILL HOGAN

Question conventional wisdom, read everything and be courteous were just a few of the tips longtime investigative journalist Bill Hogan gave to Washington Journalism Center students on Feb. 26.  Currently a senior fellow at the Center for Public Integrity, Hogan also has worked as a freelance journalist for many years, and as a CBS News consultant, editor of Regardie’s magazine in Washington and Washington editor of Mother Jones magazine.

Hogan’s years of investigative journalism experience include exposing the Bank of Credit and Commerce International’s secret ownership of First American Bankshares, and breaking the news that Tony Coelho (then Al Gore’s presidential campaign chairman) was under criminal investigation by the Justice Department.

“This is a great place for investigative reporting,” Hogan said of reporting from D.C.  “There’s a lot of low hanging fruit in Washington.”

And while Hogan told students never to fear a big story, or investigating anything and everything, he warned that investigative reporting does not mean being too harsh or aggressive.

“I always treat people the way I’d want to be treated if they were writing a story about me that I didn’t want written,” he said. 

JOHN PODESTA

Success in the White House is achieved by starting with the end result in mind and developing copasetic relationships, a former White House chief of staff told Boston University students Feb. 14.

"You see the field of play, you know where the relationships are strongest… and you work the system, the tactics, the personalities, to get there," John Podesta, chief of staff during the Clinton administration, said.

Podesta also discussed the "seven days, 52 weeks a year" demands of working with Congress.

"The phone rings in the middle of the night because something is happening somewhere in the world," Podesta said, or in his case, he joked, "because President Clinton was a night owl."  Podesta arrived at the White House three hours early every morning to "set up the day" before the President arrived.

Now president of the progressive think-tank CenterforAmericanProgress.org, Podesta cautioned students against the "swell-headedness" that overcomes those who work in Washington, D.C., and offered one more tidbit for success:  "The humility with which you approach your job… the people who maintain a sense of that [humility] probably do a bit better."

MASSIE RITSCH

The outcome of elections are greatly affected by finances, Massie Ritsch, communications director of the Center for Responsive Politics, told Boston University students Feb. 7.

Ritsch discussed the parallel relationship between money and the likelihood of a victory, using incumbents – who generally have the advantage in raising money – as an example.  Whether they get the money because they're in office, or they get to office because of their fundraising potential, is unclear, said Ritsch. "But the fact is, the incumbent has an almost certain chance of winning." 

Money plays a large role on the Hill, Ritsch said.  "[Candidates] raise the money because it's there.  Because you can.  Because it's being offered.  You never know when you're going to need it… The election really never stops.  The campaign really never stops," Ritsch said. 

His talk coincided with the Federal Election Commission filings by each candidate, so he aimed to provide the students with information that would help them write stories on the congressmen they cover.  He also helped students learn to navigate the center's Web site, openscrets.org, as a tool for writing their stories.   

After he spoke, Ritsch met with both print and broadcast students to answer one-on-one questions about the their congressmen’s filings with the Federal Election Commission. 

Jeff Brinbaum

Jeff Birnbaum, author, television and radio commentator and Washington Post columnist, met with journalism students on Feb. 5, sharing his years of experience writing about the intersection of business and politics.  Birnbaum discussed recently released Federal Election Commission reports, which chart money candidates raise for a campaign—showing students how to extract stories from the reports, but also cautioning them to “not read too much into the numbers” in the hopes of breaking a big story.

Press Secretaries 
 
A panel of Capitol Hill press secretaries offered advice—ranging from no gum chewing during interviews to researching how a bill becomes a law—to Washington Journalism Center students on Feb. 2. 

Kelsey Rood, a Boston University alumna and the event coordinator/state scheduler for Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), advised students to be flexible when dealing with congressmen.  “You have to sometimes grin and bear it,” she said. 

“How you approach a story is just as important as how you write it,” said Sean Neary, the press secretary for Sen. Conrad. 

Doug Heye, former communications director for Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), agreed, telling students to be as honest as possible about interview topics or else risk alienating press secretaries. 

All three said that reporters’ being accurate, prepared and professional will not only create the best relationships between reporters and press secretaries, but also will result in the best stories for reporters. 

Fall 2006

Susan Milligan, Dec. 1

Although Susan Milligan is currently one of the Washington, D.C., reporters for The Boston Globe, she has reported from as far away as Kosovo and Kazakhstan. 

One night in Kosovo, she faced a particularly harrowing situation, when her group drove up a road to a burning village, only to be suddenly surrounded by armed soldiers. Thankfully, they found common ground, in an unlikely place. 

When another person in her car said he was from Chicago, “one of the soldiers mentioned the Chicago Bulls, and I said ‘Michael Jordan,’” Milligan said in a talk on Dec. 1 to journalism students at the Boston University Washington Center. That connection helped to lighten the situation, although there could have been a very different outcome. 

“We didn’t have guns,” she said. “We would have been dead if we did.” 

Milligan has since gone from being “scared every single day” to covering the less physically dangerous beat of Washington politics. Unlike some of her fellow journalists, she said she likes to get to know the members of Congress. 

Milligan offered some optimistic thoughts about the future of the journalism business. For example, she thinks people will eventually be paying for news on the Internet. 

“I’m not one of those who thinks newspapers are dying,” she said. “People don’t wake up in the morning to read the Web. A physical newspaper has more credibility.” 

Lisa Stark, November 17

If it's an acronym, chances are Lisa Stark covers it.

FAA, FDA, FEMA – she reports on all of them, usually ASAP.

Stark covers the government agency beat for ABC News and regularly contributes to World News with Charles Gibson. Stark, speaking to Boston University Washington Journalism Program students Nov. 17, said the hardest part of covering the agencies is learning to decipher the agency jargon.

She said developing long-term relationships with sources at the agencies is essential. One of the keys to doing so is to simply check-in with sources not only when you need them for a story, but also just to build a relationship.

"Be objective, but fair and don't ignore sources when there is no news," said Stark.

Her career in journalism began as editor for her high school newspaper. Later she worked as a radio reporter and then as a television reporter in Eugene, Oregon, and San Francisco. She then moved to Washington, D.C., as the correspondent for ABC NewsOne.

Charles Babbington, Nov. 15 

Looking ahead to 2008, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) will be very hard to beat if he gets the Republican nomination for President, acording to Charles Babbington, political reporter for the Washington Post. 

“He’s popular with moderates and independents,” Babbington said. 

However, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) is a strong presence on the Democratic side. 

“Hillary’s name recognition is 100 percent,” he said. “She’s in a class by herself.” 

Babbington, speaking to Boston University students at the Senate Radio/TV gallery in the Capitol on Nov. 15, noted that only two presidents have come directly from the Senate: John Kennedy and Warren Harding. But the two frontrunners for the 2008 race are both senators. 

With many other senators mulling runs, including Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), Joseph Biden (D-Del.) and Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), the Senate could be “a mess” during the campaign, Babbington said. 

But elections and excitement of this nature are some of the reasons why Babbington enjoys reporting in Washington. 

“You cover Congress almost as a sports reporter,” he said. “Often there’s more game than substance.” 

John Harris, November 3

With the political buzz in the air days before the election, Washington Post National Politics Editor and author John F. Harris speculated on the outcome at the polls with students at the Boston University Washington Center. More than contemplating the potential winners and losers, Harris evaluated the motivations behind the races. 
 
In his book “The Way to Win” Harris tagged the political culture phrase “freak show” to summarize how political parties, the media and lobbyists interact.  “To understand political culture and political media, you have to understand incentives and what causes people to act the way they do,” said Harris. “It is like politics in which there is no referee.”

Although “freak show politics” are cynical, there is a silver lining according to Harris. “There is an idealistic thread running through, because the people who survive have more solid views and are therefore stronger candidates."

The popularity of blogs has taken the theory to a new level of intensity and has created a more aggressive landscape.  Despite this, Harris said he hopes that people find it less satisfying and a marketplace for responsible, high quality journalism can flourish.

So what is the next evolution of freak shows?

“Hopefully the demise,” said Harris.

Mark Thompson, November 1 

Time magazine’s Mark Thompson brought a bit of hope to Boston University’s  journalism students Nov. 1. 

“The number of journalism jobs today is 70 percent higher than in1971, when I  graduated BU,” said Thompson adding, “I don’t think there has ever been a better  time to be a young journalist.” 

This in spite of the fact Thompson pointed out that newspaper circulation peaked  in 1987, nearly 20 years ago. 

“This trade is important. It will always be here,” said Thompson, a Pulitzer  Prize winner for his coverage of the military. 

Thompson’s advice to young journalists is to do the best journalism you can that 
cannot be found somewhere else. This is accomplished by exploiting the inner 
tension that exists on topics of stories and by getting to know a topic in a way 
that puts you on the level with an expert. 

More importantly, the story is told not by the journalist, but through people  the story is affecting. 

“It’s not the policy, it’s the people! Show it through someone’s eyes,” said 
Thompson. 

Finally, Thompson believes the best projects that are done in journalism are 
done by a team saying that the more people you enlist to work with, the more 
eager they will be to help. 

Kevin Merida, October 25

When reporting, simply observing and hanging out with someone can be more valuable than a notebook, according to Washington Post Associate Editor and Boston University alumus Kevin Merida. 
 
“You don’t always need a notebook to report what you are doing,” said Merida. Just observing what is happening around you is as important and sometimes, Merida said, a notebook can be a crutch. 
 
When taking notes, Merida said, make sure you include your impressions of  what you are thinking as you hear and see what is going on around you.

Examples of his style were presented in features, or portraits as he refers  to them, on then Gov. George W. Bush and South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond. 
 
The most interesting profiles are those that have a special angle about them,  some trait or habit that may not be known. When picking a subject for a longer  format Merida did give one piece of advice: “A good rule is, if it’s  interesting to you, go with it.” 

Les Kretman, October 20

Network news is “not as hot” as other television programming, according to Les Kretman, a White House producer for NBC News. Noting the rise in Internet news options, Kretman said that the networks have to figure out how best to present their news. 

“Networks should set the standard on what to cover and not worry about what the public thinks,” Kretman said in a talk at the Boston University Washington Center Oct. 20. 

On the negative side, though, networks don’t have as many international bureaus anymore. NBC currently has one in Europe, one in Tokyo and a small one in Mexico, he said. 

It also has become more difficult to cover domestic events, Kretman said. For example, at a rally for Sen. George Allen featuring President Bush, the reporters were told that if they wanted to go out and cover the protests of the event, they wouldn’t be allowed back. 

“If the White House is tight, they became part of the story,” said Kretman. “The Bush White House has always been tight.” 

Kretman, a graduate of Boston University who now oversees reporters like David Gregory at NBC, closed his talk by offering advice to students who are starting out:

“Be tenacious.”

Political and education reporting for the Los Angeles Times formed Massie Ritsch’s foundation in journalism. Originally from Virginia, Ritsch returned to the east coast to work as the communications director with the Center for Responsive Politics. The non-partisan research group tracks political dollars. 

Ritsch talked with the Boston University Washington Journalism Center students Friday Oct. 13, 2006, about utilizing the information that the center offers.  Speaking to the regional reporters he suggested gauging “where your area stacks up” in the realm of political financing. 

Demonstrating how to navigate the Web site, Ritsch suggested story angles for reporters. He recommended looking at how congressmen in the reporter’s area compared to others, if they use any of their own money in the campaigns and what industries contribute the most. Looking for patterns in contributions and spending can reveal information that would make a good story. 

Encouraging the reporters to use resources such as the Center for Responsive Politics, Ritsch paralleled the organization’s goals with those of the reporters: to create educated citizens and voters and, in turn, a responsive government. 

Follow the money and it may lead you to Jeffrey Birnbaum of The Washington Post and a story on campaign finance. 
 
“[Campaign finance stories] have a great deal of weight. Be aware there is a heightened sense of ethics,” said Birnbaum, who spoke to the Political Reporting class on Oct. 11, 2006. 
 
Birnbaum recommended that campaign finance stories be straight forward and simple. Instead of investigations into donations, he suggested focusing on items such as the amount of cash-on-hand a candidate has to spend in the final weeks of the upcoming election. 
 
This year more than 300 candidates will air commercials accusing opponents of being too close to lobbyists and special interests groups. Birnbaum explained that the public can find just how closely candidates are tied by tracking campaign donations using Web sites such as: www.opensecrets.org; www.fec.gov; and www.politicalmoneyline.com. 
 
Birnbaum’s column, K Street Confidential, appears in The Washington Post. He is also a commentator for Fox News Channel and WBZ radio in Boston. 

The Mark Foley scandal is going to be the backbreaker of this election season for the Republicans, according to Chuck Todd, the editor-in-chief of Hotline, a daily Internet news briefing of politics and campaigns. The Republican side is simply not going to vote as much, he said in a discussion at the Boston University Washington Center on Friday, Oct. 6.

“Waves happen because of less votes on the losing side, not the other way around,” he said. “That’s what happened in 1994.”

The Republicans could help their situation by announcing that Dennis Hastert is not coming back, Todd said.
 
When the talk shifted to the next presidential election, Todd noted that there is one candidate that scares the Hillary Clinton campaign: Barack Obama. Todd said he thinks the Illinois senator will run for president.

“It’s his time,” he said. “In four or eight years, he’s just another senator.”

On the Republican side, it will likely be John McCain or Mitt Romney, but not Rudolph Guiliani, he said..

Guiliani would not hold up to the business scrutiny, Todd said. “He’s too thin-skinned.”

Todd, a frequent contributor to MSNBC’s “Hardball,” has been with Hotline (hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com) for 14 years. In that time, he has helped the Web site grow to a heavily trafficked news source for political insiders.

Keith White, executive editor of CongressDailyPM, is a natural born reporter. A third generation journalist from Oklahoma, he began writing for his family newspaper as a teenager. Throughout White’s career he has covered politics and regional news, working for the Tulsa Tribune, Gannett and the Cincinnati Enquirer.

“Regional reporting is often overlooked,” White told the Boston University Washington Center students Friday, Sept. 28. “You are the eyes and ears of the news operations; if you miss it they don’t get it.”

He encouraged students to always back up their sources and look for a third, fourth or even fifth perspective when covering a topic. He also urged students to never be intimidated and to utilize the resources that Washington, D.C., offers reporters by using their press passes to their full advantage.

Former 60 Minutes producer and veteran investigative reporter Charles Lewis said the newspaper industry will change so much in next 15 years that all papers will exist only on-line.

Lewis, speaking to a class at the Boston University Washington Journalism Center, added  that the digital demand of news is already happening and the next generation of reporters and media owners will be ones who care more about news and less about the bottom dollar.

“If there is one thing we’ve learned in the last couple years, it’s that nothing is permanent,” said Lewis, “The industry now is clueless. If you talk to executives they don’t know what’s going to happen in the next years.”

Calling this time the most secretive since Nixon and the days of Watergate, Lewis said he believes that investigative reporting is still important and doesn’t think there is enough of it in the world despite the fact that there are more news outlets than ever before.

Lewis is the founding president of the Fund for Independence in Journalism. Lewis founded and for 15 years was executive director of the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit investigative reporting organization. The center produced 300 reports and 14 books during his tenure, garnering 35 national journalism awards. In 1997, he began the Center's International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the world's first working network of  investigative reporters, currently 95 people in 48 countries.

Lewis did offer some hope to new or soon-to-be-new journalism students, predicting that all should be able to find a job fairly quickly.

“You’re good, you’re young and you’re cheap,” he said with a smile.

Reporters on Capitol Hill and the press secretaries of members of Congress have a symbiotic relationship. Boston University Washington journalism students met with three press aides to learn how to build these delicate relationships.

Sean Neary and Kelsey Rood from the office of North Dakota’s Senator Kent Conrad and Brynn Barnett from New York Congressman John McHugh’s office gave their insight and shared some do’s and don’ts of working with congressional staff:

• Always do your homework and be informed on the topic in which you are interviewing.
•  Get background information from press aides and through research, not from members of Congress during the interview.
• Don’t stray from the line of questioning you indicate while setting up the interview. Asking unrelated questions will be a deterrent in setting up future interviews.
• Time is valuable so be prepared and be concise.
• There is a preference for localized stories.

Neary, Rood and Barnett also stressed the importance of keeping a good rapport with the congressional staff. They said there are reporters with whom they refuse to work due to past indiscretions. The art of landing interviews with members of Congress lies in having a good relationship with their press staffs, the three press aides said.

Spring 2005

Following the money is an important part of covering politics in Washington , and Jeffrey Birnbaum has been following the money for years. After writing for The Wall Street Journal for 16 years, Birnbaum was a senior political analyst at Time magazine and the Washington bureau chief for Fortune magazine. He advised students writing campaign finance stories to look for trends in the campaign contributions politicians file.

Brad Bell, a reporter for ABC 7/ WJLA-TV in Virginia , discussed working as a crime reporter. A crime reporter should develop a base of reliable sources and visit the scene of the crime, he said. Bell has won five Emmy awards for his reporting since joining WJLA's news team in 1991.

Mike Meneer, Assignment Editor of ABC 7/WJLA-TV, also spoke about the role of journalism in television.  "At least once a week, we do a story, which I feel, really makes a difference," said Meneer.

Sue Davis, a reporter for National Journal, spoke to students about her experinece working as a young reporter in Washington. National Journal, which Davis called a "wonky publicattion, covers congress in depth daily.

Steve Weiss, communications director and editor for the Center for Responsive Politics, showed students how to track campaign contributions as part of the political reporting course at the center. Based in Washington, The Center for Responsive Politics is a non-partisan, non-profit research group that follows money in politics.

Chuck Babington, political editor at The Washington Post, talks to students about covering Congress during a political reporting class. Babington co-taught the class during Fall 2004

Washington Post Associate Editor Kevin Merida, who has written about everyone from Hillary Clinton to Rick James, talks to students about writing profiles. When writing about difficult subjects--which Merida says he specializes in--look for details that provide insight into the subject. Does the Congressman have a mustard stain on his tie? Does the Senator shoot a glance at a rival as she walks down the hallway? What does the Mayor's wife have to say about her husband's nighttime routine? Merida, a Boston University Graduate, also has written for the Dallas Morning News and The Milwaukee Journal . He is currently working on a book about a subject who rarely speaks--Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Donald Ritchie, associate historian of the U.S. Senate, talks to political reporting students about the changes the Washington press corps has undergone since the 1930's. Technology ranging from the radio to internet, competition between news agencies, and women and minorities' struggle to report have been catalysts of change and innovation in Washington reporting, Ritchie said. Ritchie is the author of Reporting From Washington: The History of the Washington Press Corps.

Keith White, executive editor of CongressDaily, talks to students about covering Congress during a February 4 political reporting class. White has covered politics in Oklahoma, Missouri and Washington, D.C. He reminded students that as correspondents, they are the eyes and ears for readers who are not in Washington. "All politics are local," he said. CongressDaily, a publication of National Journal.

What takes a good feature story? A subject with significance in the bigger social picture and vivid images, said Bill O'Sullivan, features editor at Washingtonian magazine. O'Sullivan talked about writing for magazines and encouraged students to write about ssues they care about.

Fall 2004

Andy Gobeil, Bureau Chief, Meredith Broadcasting
When the Meredith Broadcasting Group opened a Washington bureau last December, Andy Gobeil was tapped to be its anchorman. Gobeil provides Washington news coverage to nine television stations in cities across the country. A native of Cape Cod, Gobeil has spent his career building his resume in smaller markets. He began in radio at an NPR station in New Mexico, and then made the move to television, working as a reporter in Pensacola, Florida and Greenville, South Carolina, where he ultimately became anchor. At the brown bag breakfast on November 19, he talked about the challenges of this industry, and some of the ways that media have evolved. While he called the work a challenge, he also said he wouldn't consider doing anything else.

Mark Thompson, National Security Correspondent, Time Magazine
Mark Thompson, the senior national security correspondent for Time magazine and a 1975 graduate of Boston University, joined us for class on December 6. He counseled students about the current difficulty of the job market, comparing it to the landscape he entered after graduating from college. He made valuable distinctions between newspaper writing and magazine writing, describing the strengths and weaknesses of each. Thompson, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1985 for a series about malfunctioning helicopters, emphasized the importance of evolving with the times and taking advantage of technology. "Even dinosaurs are saying this is the future," he said, referring to the rise of news websites.

Mike Waldron, Department of Energy
Waldron, a graduate of Boston University's College of Communications, visited a Monday evening class on November 29 to tell us about his job. Waldron works "at the pleasure of the White House," serving as deputy director of communications for the Department of Energy. That means he's a person journalist often butt heads with. Waldron talked frankly about his relationship with the press, and offered suggestions to journalists for finding the information they need more effectively.

Gerald Seib, Wall Street Journal
Gerald Seib, the Washington bureau chief at the Wall Street Journal , stopped by for the October 8 breakfast seminar and shared stories from his career path, which has included extensive foreign correspondence in the Middle East. He told students that it is an intense season to be in Washington and described the changing nature of the newspaper industry. According to Sieb, as readers are presented with a broader range of media, an increasing number of people are simply choosing whatever coverage appeals to their interests. He also described the Journal's bureau, which consists of 40 reporters and editors.

Kevin Merida, Washington Post
Kevin Merida, currently on book leave from his associate editor position at the Washington Post , visited the breakfast seminar on October 16, toting some of his favorite literature, including Anne LaMott's Bird by Bird and his favorite John Steinbeck novel Cannery Row. Merida is co-authoring a biography of enigmatic Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and he pushed students to devote as much time to thinking about a story as they do writing it. He also emphasized the importance of imagery in writing, reminding students that becoming buried in a notebook may lead to missing some of a story's best details.

Other guests:

Staci Bernards, Press Secretary for Steny Hoyer (D-Mar.)

Ron Elving, NPR, discussing election results with students on Nov. 5

Ray Suarez, correspondent for the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, spoke students Dec. 3

Keith White, Congress Daily

Lisa Stark, ABC News

Steve Weiss, Center for Responsive Politics

Peter Canellos, Washington Bureau Chief for the Boston Globe

Spring 2004

Peter Roybal, Congressional Quarterly
Peter Roybal, who has worked for Congressional Quarterly for six years, spoke with students at the end of the semester about job hunting in the journalism field. He said that, thanks to the Washington program and our experiences reporting on the Hill, we will have the type of experience that employers in Washington, DC might look for.

Paul Starobin, National Journal Correspondent
Paul Starobin writes about a variety of international and domestic topics as a staff correspondent for National Journal and a contributing editor of The Atlantic Monthly. A particular specialty is the ex-Soviet Union region including Russia.

He has reported over the years from Russia, Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Middle East and Western and Eastern Europe. In 1998, he was awarded a Knight International Press Fellowship to advise independent media in the former Soviet Union. He has written for publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times.

He is a contributor to "The Real State of the Union," a book published in 2004 by New America/Basic Books, and a former contributing editor of Columbia Journalism Review. From Dec. 1999 to Aug. 2003, Starobin was Moscow bureau chief for Business Week magazine.

Previous positions include reporter for Congressional Quarterly in Washington, business reporter for The Lowell Sun in Massachusetts, and public-policy casewriter for the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He grew up in Worcester, MA. and graduated from Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT. in 1979. Starobin received a Masters of Science degree in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1981. He lives in Falls Church, VA. with his wife and two children.

John Edgell
John Edgell, one of the founding partners of the lobbying firm, Capitol Advocates, spoke recently with students about using the political experiences he gained from working over 15 years on Capitol Hill to his clients benefit as a lobbyist.

Kevin Merida, Associate Editor of The Washington Post
Kevin Merida is an associate editor of The Washington Post, a feature writer for the Style section of the paper and a columnist for the Post's Sunday magazine.

He covered the '94 elections that toppled the Democrats, the rise of the Gingrich revolutionaries and the '96 presidential election. Merida, a 1979 Boston University alum, was named "Journalist of the Year" by the National Association of Black Journalists in 1999.

In 1990, he was part of a Dallas Morning News team that was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for explanatory journalism for a special report on the world's hidden wars.

Lisa Stark, ABC News Correspondent
Lisa Stark was named a correspondent for ABCNEWS in 1994. In her current position, she specializes in reporting on federal agencies. Stark covers the Federal Drug Administration, Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board. She also reports on the Federal Communications Commission, Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Product Safety Commission and others.

She reported extensively on the bombing in Oklahoma City, the crash of TWA Flight 800, John F. Kennedy Jr. and the Alaskan Airline crash.

Stark joined ABCNEWS in 1993 as Washington correspondent for NewsOne, ABCNEWS' affiliate news service. In that capacity she reported on the Rodney King and O.J. Simpson trials, the Midwest floods, and the funerals of former President Richard Nixon and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.=20

Prior to joining ABCNEWS, Stark was a reporter and substitute anchor for KGO-TV, the ABC owned-and-operated station in San Francisco. She joined KGO-TV in 1984 and reported extensively on AIDS and politics, covering international AIDS conferences and Democratic and Republican National Conventions. She reported from Capitol Hill during the Persian Gulf War. Stark also co-hosted a weekly interview program and was substitute host for KGO-TV's morning talk show.=20

Before joining KGO-TV, Stark was anchor/reporter for ABC affiliates KATU-TV in Portland, Oregon and KEZI-TV in Eugene, Oregon. At KATU-TV she was responsible for all political and presidential election coverage, and she anchored both the 6:30 and 11:00 p.m. newscasts. At KEZI-TV she anchored the 5:30 p.m. news and covered breaking stories, including the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.

Stark began her broadcasting career as a reporter/researcher at National Public Radio in Washington, D.C. She was news director at KALX-FM, the University of California at Berkeley radio station, and subsequently held reporting jobs at KNBR/KYUU radio in San Francisco, KGAY in Salem, Oregon and KQFM in Portland, Oregon. Stark was valedictorian and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in political science from the University of California at Berkeley in 1978. She is married and lives in Maryland.

Ray Suarez, Senior Correspondent, The NewsHour
Ray Suarez joined The NewsHour in October 1999 as a Washington-based senior correspondent responsible for conducting newsmaker interviews, studio discussion and debates, reporting from the field and serving as a backup anchor.

Suarez has twenty-five years of varied experience in the news business. He came to The NewsHour from National Public Radio where he had been host of the nationwide, call-in news program "Talk of the Nation" since 1993. Prior to that, he spent seven years covering local, national, and international stories for the NBC-owned station, WMAQ-TV in Chicago.

Suarez wrote the recent book The Old Neighborhood: What We Lost in the Great Suburban Migration: 1966-1999 (Free Press), and has contributed to several others, including Totally Brooklyn (Workman, 2001), Saving America's Treasures (National Geographic, 2000), Las Christmas: Favorite Latino Authors Share Their Holiday Memories ( Knopf, 1998), and About Men ( Poseidon, 1986). His essays and criticism have been published in The New York Times , The Washington Post , The Chicago Tribune , The Baltimore Sun , among other publications.

Suarez was also a Los Angeles correspondent for CNN, a producer for the ABC Radio Network in New York, a reporter for CBS Radio in Rome, and a reporter for various American and British news services in London. Over the years he has narrated, anchored or reported many special programs and documentaries for public radio and television.

Suarez shared in NPR's 1993-94 and 1994-95 duPont-Columbia Silver Baton Awards for on-site coverage of the first all-race elections in South Africa and the first 100 days of the 104th Congress, respectively. He has been honored with the 1996 Ruben Salazar Award from the National Council of La Raza, Current History Magazine's 1995 Global Awareness Award, and a Chicago Emmy Award.

Suarez holds a B.A. in African History from New York University and an M.A. in the Social Sciences from the University of Chicagos. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by Westminster College in Salt Lake City in 2000, and an Alumni Achievement Award from NYU.

A longtime member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Suarez is a founding member of the Chicago Association of Hispanic Journalists. A native of Brooklyn, New York, he lives in Washington with his wife and three children.

Linda Roth, Executive Producer, Late Night with Wolf Blitzer
Linda Roth is the Executive Producer of "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer," CNN's Sunday public affairs program. The two-hour newscast is the only Sunday talk show with an international reach, seen in 230 countries. World leaders and newsmakers are the main staple of the show; their quotes often making headlines in the Monday morning newspapers. Recent notable guests include: Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Jordan's King Abdullah, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and every Democratic presidential candidate.

Linda is CNN's go-to producer for challenging assignments; she was responsible for re-opening CNN's Baghdad bureau when the city fell during Operation Iraqi Freedom and covered the beginning of the war from hotspots such as Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Linda is also a key player in the biggest story of the year: America Votes 2004. She is the coordinating producer for CNN's Election Express, a mobile television studio bus currently traveling across the country to key primary battles, debates and election nights.

A 16-year veteran of CNN, she has been a writer, copy editor and producer, worked in four CNN bureaus and covered stories all over the globe. She shares in the network's Emmy awards for CNN's coverage of September 11, the war in Afghanistan and the Oklahoma City bombing. She also earned a national Headliner Award for Best Newscast in 1999 and the Peter Lisagor Award for Best Reporting in 1997.

Linda is a graduate of Boston University's College of Communication.

Jerry Seib, Washington Bureau Chief at The Wall Street Journal

Kori Bernards, Communications Director for the DCCC
Kori Bernards currently serves as the Communications Director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Last election cycle, Bernards was the Press Secretary for former House Democratic Leader Richard A. Gephardt where she served as the Leader's spokesperson and main traveling press secretary.

Prior to working for Leader Gephardt, Bernards served four and a half years as Communications Director to David R. Obey of Wisconsin and as Press Secretary for the House Appropriations Committee Democrats. During that time, Bernards also volunteered and was a Board Member for Horton's Kids Inc. where she worked with underprivileged children from Anacostia and helped them get health services.

In 1996, Bernards worked for former Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala where she was a political appointee in the Secretary's Public Affairs Office. She was Secretary Shalala's radio person and also the traveling press coordinator. Bernards first job in Washington was working in the Congressional Office of Connecticut Representative Rosa L. DeLauro.

Bernards has been in Washington since 1995. Before coming to Washington she worked in Phoenix, Arizona on a handful of different local and statewide campaigns including Clinton Gore Arizona in 1992. Bernards is a native Southern Californian. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Regis University in Denver, Colorado.

Jeffrey Birnbaum, Washington Bureau Chief, Fortune Magazine

As Fortune's senior writer in D.C., Birnbaum organizes and authors the magazine's Power 25 survey that assesses which lobbying groups have the most clout in the capital. He also pens a column for Fortune and Fortune.com called Birnbaum on Washington. Washingtonian magazine selected him as one of "Washington's 50 best and most influential journalists in 2001."

Birnbaum is the author of four books. The latest is The Money Men, which examines campaign fund-raising and was published in 2000 by Crown Publishers, a unit of Random House. His first book, Showdown at Gucci Gulch, was written with Alan Murray in 1987. This classic chronicle of the Tax Reform Act of 1986, published by Random House, won the American Political Science Association's coveted Carey McWilliams Award in 1988. In 1992, Birnbaum's second book, The Lobbyists, was published by Random House's Times Books and was a Washington Post best seller. Madhouse, Birnbaum's third book, was published in 1996, also by Times Books. This lively look at the turmoil of working for the President was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

In 1998, Birnbaum was hired as a Fox News contributor. He is now featured regularly on Fox Newsý Special Report with Brit Hume as well as on public TV's Washington Week. He has also appeared on The Today Show, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Nightline, Fox News Sunday, NPR's Morning Edition, Talk of the Nation and All Things Considered, the Charlie Rose Show, and CNN's CNNfn, Inside Politics and Crossfire. He has lectured for trade associations, professional seminars, and at major colleges including Harvard, Amherst College, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Texas.

A native of Scranton, Pennsylvania, Birnbaum graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1977. He began his career in journalism that same year as a Dow Jones Newspaper Fund reporting intern in The Wall Street Journal's Philadelphia bureau and as a federal court stringer for the Associated Press. In 1978 he joined the staff of the Miami Herald, where he was a suburban and state bureau news reporter.

In January 1979, Birnbaum rejoined The Wall Street Journal in its New York bureau, where he covered apparel, textiles and retailing. In 1982 he moved to the Washington where he covered Congress and politics. In 1992, Birnbaum was named White House correspondent for the Journal, and in 1994 won the Aldo Beckman award for excellence in feature writing about the Presidency.

Chuck Todd, Editor-in-Chief, The Hotline
Chuck Todd is Editor-in-Chief of The Hotline, Washington's premier daily briefing on American politics. In his 10+ years working at The Hotline or one of its affiliates, Todd has become one of Washington's foremost experts on political campaigns of all levels.

In March 2001, George magazine named Todd as one of the 50 most influential people in politics. In October 2003, Todd moderated AARP's Iowa presidential forum featureing all of the candidates actively competing in the Iowa presidential caucuses.

In addition to his Hotline duties, Todd writes a highly regarded weekly column for NationalJournal.com, which focuses on the big picture battles for the White House, control of the Senate and control of the House. Todd frequently appears on television to offer analysis of campaigns and political events of the day, including a weekly basis on C-SPAN's "Washington Journal" and CNN's "Inside Politics." He's also appeared on numerous other TV programs, including "Meet the Press."

Todd also offers analysis for print publications and has been quoted in hundreds of daily newspapers. In December 2003, The New York Times published Todd's theory on who the swing voter of 2004 could be.

Since joining The Hotline in 1992, Todd has helped the publication grow beyond just a single daily political briefing. From Hotline Weekly to House Race Hotline to the various morning and afternoon updates, Todd has helped make The Hotline the epicenter of politics.

In between stints with The Hotline, Todd was on the cutting edge of publication creations, including The Sports Business Daily. Founded in 1994, The Sports Business Daily has done for the sports world what The Hotline has done for politics. In 1995 he was on the forefront of making political news accessible on the Web as a member of the team that created the award-winning political Web site, PoliticsNow.com.

Before coming to the world of political reporting and analysis, Todd earned practical political experience on initiative campaigns in Florida and various national campaigns based in Washington.

Todd, a native of Miami, Fla., majored in political science and music performance at The George Washington University. He and his wife, Kristian, reside in Arlington, Va.

Keith White, Executive Editor, Congress Daily
Keith White was named executive editor of Congress Daily in 2001. He couldn't help but find success in the world of newspapers; as a third-generation journalist, ink runs in his veins. Love of the reported word began with White's grandfather, who worked on the business side for The Daily Oklahoman in Oklahoma City. His father then owned and operated a weekly newspaper in Grandfield, Okla., from 1956-76 before joining the Oklahoma City Times. He retired in 1988.

"I got my first byline at 14 on a sports story I wrote for the family newspaper, then began stringing for nearby daily newspapers," White said. While other high school students were worrying about football games and school dances the budding young journalist was covering city council meetings and county commissions. White's interest in reporting carried him through college at the University of Oklahoma. There he served as a photographer and reporter for school publications before graduating in 1974. He also managed to intern at The Daily Oklahoman and The Washington Post while in school.

White continued on attend graduate school at the University of Missouri-Columbia before graduating in 1975. He then ran the University's graduate reporting program in statehouse reporting for two years as an instructor.

"After a brief stint with The Tulsa Tribune, I joined Gannett in 1978 as a statehouse correspondent for the Springfield News-Leader (Mo.)," he said. "I did that for five years and then was named the Gannett News Service bureau chief in Columbus, Ohio, in 1983."

In 1986, White came to Washington, D.C., as a regional correspondent for GNS and covered Missouri, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Tennessee, Colorado and Nevada during his ten years with the news service. He came to Congress Daily as senior managing editor of the afternoon edition in 1996.

White addressed the students on a variety of topics important for the political reporter today. He provided information on how to find story ideas on the Hill, and how to maintain relationships with press secretaries. White sprinkled his advice with personal anecdotes and past experiences.

"Get yourself out of the Press Gallery," he stressed.

Fall 2003

ABC correspondent Lisa Stark has been an ABC correspondent since 1994. She told BU students she was asked to cover plane crashes when she came on board the network. She has covered the crash of TWA Flight 800, John F. Kennedy Jr.,the Alaskan Airline crash and the bombing in Oklahoma City.

Ray Suarez has been a journalist for over 25 years. He has worked all over the world including, Los Angels, New York, Chicago, Rome and London. Before coming to The NewsHour, he hosted the nationwide, call-in news program "Talk of the Nation" on National Public Radio.

Kevin Merida is an associate editor of The Washington Post, a feature writer for the Style section of the paper and a columnist for the Post's Sunday magazine. He covered the '94 elections that toppled the Democrats, the rise of the Gingrich revolutionaries and the '96 presidential election. Merida, a 1979 Boston University alum, was named "Journalist of the Year" by the National Association of Black Journalists in 1999. In 1990, he was part of a Dallas Morning News team that was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for explanatory journalism for a special report on the world's hidden wars.

Jerry Seib is The Wall Street Journal's Washington Bureau Chief and spoke with students about his career as a reporter, which began in 1978 at The Wall Street Journal's Dallas Bureau. Seib discussed the time he spent reporting for the paper overseas and advised the students on how to pursue a successful career in Journalism.

Jeff Birnbaum, Fortune Magazine's Washington bureau chief spoke with students about writing financial campaign stories. He advised the students on where to find financial information and gave tips on different story angles. In addition to being bureau chief, Birnbaum is the author of four books, including his most recent The Money Men about campaign fundraising.

Richard Cohen, a reporter for the National Journal spoke with students about the most effective ways to cover Congress. Reporting for the D.C.-based publication since 1973, Cohen answered student-raised questions about fundamental aspects of Congress andsuggested story ideas concerning Medicare reform, among others.

Spring 2003

Peter Roybal, who has worked for Congressional Quarterly for six years, spoke
with students at the end of the semester about job hunting in the journalism
field. He said that, thanks to the Washington program and our experiences
reporting on the Hill, we will have the type of experience that employers in
Washington, DC might look for.

Dana Milbank, White House correspondent for The Washington Post, spoke recently with the students about a reporter's responsibility to find the real story. Milbank encouraged students to be fair, but to ask the tough questions and to look beyond the information released to the press. Milbank, a seasoned reporter, noted the differences between reporting on an open administration and reporting on one, like the Bush administration, that releases very little information, but said that in any situation, a reporter has the important duty to sift through the rhetoric and find the truth.

Vernon Loeb, a defense correspondent for The Washington Post, spoke to students in the newsroom recently about his job reporting on the war in Iraq. He's had a long career in journalism, working for 16 years at the Philadelphia Inquirer before he came to the Post. As a foreign correspondent for the Inquirer, Loeb covered such historical events as The Tianamen Square massacre and the 1991 Gulf War. Loeb encouraged students to stick with journalism because although he admitted it is not a nine to five job, he said it is a noble profession.

Jay Branagan of Time Magazine spoke recently with students about the changing face of news.

Lynn Sweet who has worked as the Washington bureau chief for the Chicago Sun Times for nearly a decade and for the Times for 27 years, spoke with students about regional reporting and finding the story in Washington.

John Edgell, one of the founding partners of the lobbying firm, Capitol Advocates, spoke recently with students about using the political experiences he gained from working over 15 years on Capitol Hill to his clients benefit as a lobbyist.

Jeff Birnbaum, Washington bureau chief of Fortune Magazine, spoke with students about FEC filings and financial reporting in the political world. Birnbaum did a stint at the Miami Herald as a crime reporter and joked that there isn't much of a difference between reporting on crime and on financial issues in politics. He has also written several books.

Ray Suarez, a host of NewsHour on PBS with Jim Lehrer, spoke with students about the news business. Suarez has worked on television with CNN and NBC, in radio with the ABC radio network and hosted Talk of the Nation on NPR for 6 years. He has also written several books.

Stephen Barr, a staff writer for the Washington Post, met with students to discuss reporting on federal agencies. Stephen has worked for the Post since 1979 and was, for a time, editor of the agencies section.

Mark Malseed joined the students for class on Monday evening to discuss the work he did with Bob Woodward on his most recent book, Bush At War. Mark started in journalism at the Boston Herald where he worked for a short time as a travel writer. He then moved on to a small publishing company. Mark got his first position in DC with David Vice helping him research a book on Robert Hanson. After publication of that book, Mark had the opportunity to work with Bob Woodward, and is now working on a new project with him. He advises young reporters to be thorough, organized, and to remember that the best information will come at the end.

Michael Waldron, Communications Director for Senator George Allen, and Taryn Fritz, Communications Director for Congressman Henry Bonilla, took time out of their busy schedules to speak with students about how best to interact with press secretaries and the congressmen they represent. Their advice to young reporters was to be friendly and prepared.

Margot Williams, Research Editor for The Washington Post, visited the newsroom to show students some valuable research methods on the web. In a time when more and more information is being restricted and removed from the web, Williams walked students through a hands-on session offering valuable tricks of the research trade.

Fall 2002

Press Secretaries Jon Tripp, Taryn Fritz, Michael Waldron and Jim Martin
On Friday, Sept. 13, Taryn Fritz, press secretary for Rep. Henry Bonilla (R-Tex.); Jim Martin, press secretary for Rep. Charles Bass (R-N.H.); Jon Tripp, press secretary for Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.); and Michael Waldron, press secretary for Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) spoke with students about relationships between reporters and press secretaries.

Richard Cohen
National Journal reporter Richard Cohen spoke with students on Friday, Sept. 27. Cohen, who has been a reporter for National Journal since 1973 and covered Congress since 1977, gave students tips on the most effective ways to cover Congress. Cohen said that when covering Congress reporter should remember the four p's: the people, the process, the politics and the president.

Jerry Seib
Jerry Seib is the Washington Bureau Chief for The Wall Street Journal. On Friday, Oct. 4, Seib talked with students about his career as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, which began in 1978 in the Dallas Bureau. Seib strategized with students on techniques for a successful career in journalism.

Dana Milbank
Washington Post staff writer Dana Milbank spoke with students on Friday, Oct. 11 about covering the White House. Milbank talked about the sometimes difficult job of covering different White House administrations. Prior to working at The Washinton Post, Milbank wrote for The New Republic and The Wall Street Journal.

Jeff Birnbaum
Jeff Birnbaum, Fortune magazine's Washington bureau chief, talked with students about covering campaign finance issues. Birnbaum gave tips on how to find story angles within campaign finance reports. In addition to being bureau chief, Birnbaum is the author of four books, including his most recent The Money Men about campaign fundraising.

Helen Thomas
Journalist Helen Thomas spoke with Washington Journalism Center students on Friday, Oct. 25. Thomas, who became a reporter for UPI in 1943, and was later dean of the White House press corps has since covered every president beginning with John F. Kennedy. She is now a columnist for Hearst-Argyle newspapers. Thomas spoke about the differences in covering each president and the varying accessibility to each White House administration. Thomas encouraged students to constantly question and challenge information given to them as reporters.

Spring 2002

Michael Barone
On Friday, April 12, Michael Barone (left), a reporter for US News and World Report and the co-author of The Almanac of American Politics, talked to students about political reporting and the upcoming congressional races.

Robert Siegel
On Friday, April 5, Robert Siegel (right), the host of National Public Radio's "All Things Considered," talked to students at the Washington Journalism Center about the evolving world of radio journalism.
Helen Thomas
On Friday, March 22, Helen Thomas, the renowned syndicated columnist and the dean of the White House Press Corp, chided students to question politicians at all times and help others through their reporting.

Peter Royball
On Friday, March 8, Peter Royball (right), an editor at Congressional Quarterly, told students about his publication's history and the work he does on CQ's website.
Susan Page
On Friday, March 1, students at the Washington Journalism Center skipped breakfast and traveled to USA Today's new Washington bureau to hear what it is like to write and edit for the nation's largest newspaper from Susan Page, USA Today's Washington Bureau chief.

Ken DeCell
Ken DeCell (left), senior editor of Washingtonian magazine, spoke to students of the Boston University Washington Journalism Center on Friday, Feb. 22 about the opportunities and challenges he encounters working for a city magazine.

Charlie Cook
Congressional election guru Charlie Cook (right) chatted with students at the Washington Journalism Center on Friday, Feb. 15. The National Journal columnist and co-founder of Cook's Report talked about the upcoming elections.

Ray Suarez
The outspoken senior correspondent for PBS' "The NewsHour" with Jim Leher (left) warned students at the Washington Journalism Center on Friday, Feb. 8 about the emphasis in quantity over quality in journalism today.

Paul Glastris
Paul Glastris (right), the editor-in-chief of Washington Monthly spoke at the Washington Journalism Center on Friday, Jan. 25.
Jerry Seib
On Feb. 1, while the nation anxiously waited to hear news on the fate of kidnapped Wall Street Journal reporter Danny Perl, Jerry Seib (left), the deputy chief of the Wall Street Journal's Washington bureau and a colleague of Perl's, took time out of his busy schedule to visit the Washington Journalism Center.

Fall 2001

Peter Roybal

Congressional Quarterly senior editor Peter Roybal spoke to students at the Journalism Center recently about the ins and outs of reporting on Congress.

Robert Dallek

Author and Boston University history professor Robert Dallek spoke to students of the Washington Journalism Center Oct. 19 about what he calls the decline of the imperial presidency in America.

Marvin Kalb

Distinguished television journalist Marvin Kalb spoke to students of the Washington Journalism Center on Sept. 28 about news coverage of the U.S. war on terrorism and about journalism ethics and practices.