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The newsroom of the Boston University Washington News Service.

Boston University's Washington Journalism Center offers students the chance to spend a semester in Washington, D.C., meeting news makers, working in the bureaus of national news organizations, reporting on Congress and the federal government for New England news outlets and studying political reporting in the best political city in the world. ... More

Republican campaign leadership

pulls away from Senate primaries

WASHINGTON, Nov. 5 – An announcement by the National Republican Senatorial Committee that it will not give money or support to the Senate campaign of Kelly Ayotte or any other Republican Senate candidate running in a primary contest in 2010 makes no difference to the campaign, according to an Ayotte spokesman. (By Joe Markman)

Veterans benefits backlog creates

financial problems for students

WASHINGTON, Nov. 5 – After five years of Army service, including tours in Iraq, Richard Messier thought he would not have to worry about paying for college under the Post 9/11 GI Bill. But the heavy backlog of claims with the Department of Veterans Affairs has created financial problems for this 23-year-old unemployed, full-time undergrad at Bristol Community College. (By Ayesha Aleem)

Richard Schofield, above, joined thousands protesting health care reform and higher taxes outside the Capitol in Washington Thursday. Below, Shana Samuels, who turned three Thursday. (Photos by Caroline Treadway -- Boston University Washington News Service)

Tea Party protesters return

to Washington to protest health-care bill

WASHINGTON, Nov. 5 —The Tea Party isn’t over. Several thousand protestors marched on the Capitol Thursday in opposition to the Democratic health-care bill that the House of Representatives hopes to vote on by the end of the week. Less than two months ago tens of thousands of so-called Tea Party protesters marched on the capital to oppose “out-of-control” government spending and the Democratic health reform plan. (By Jessica Leving)

Ocean zoning is on the horizon

for government agencies

WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 —Federal officials told a Senate subcommittee Wednesday that they are developing a framework for cooperative use of the oceans that would bring the United States one step closer to a new national policy to address American stewardship of the oceans. (By Jeanne Amy)

Senate passes unemployment benefits extension, housing tax credit expansion

WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 – The Senate voted 98-0 Wednesday to approve an economic relief bill that would extend unemployment benefits, expand tax credits for homebuyers and offer tax breaks to businesses hit by the recession. Both Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., supported the bill. (By Hsiang-Ching Tseng)

Rick Barton at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing Wednesday. (Photo by Caroline Treadway -- Boston University Washington News Service)

Hearing held on Maine native’s

UN ambassadorship nomination

WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 —If confirmed as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Economic and Social Council, Rick Barton, a West Boothbay Harbor native, promised Wednesday to “help to focus our direction, energize our team and seek to increase the impact of America’s efforts.” (By Kase Wickman)

Bow, N.H. resident Priscilla King, left, appeared with Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer on the steps of the Capitol to present the House health care bill. (Photo by Caroline Treadway -- Boston University Washington News Service)

Rep. Shea-Porter helps present

compromise House health care bill

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 – Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, D-N.H., joined fellow lawmakers Thursday in unveiling the House Democratic leadership’s version of a health care reform bill that the full chamber could vote on before Veterans Day. Shea-Porter lined up beside Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on the steps of the Capitol overlooking the National Mall to announce the compromise legislation, a combination of bills that three House committees had approved. (By Joe Markman)

Kirk’s publicly traded assets worth

as much as $5.9 million, report shows

WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 —Sen. Paul G. Kirk Jr., D-Mass., is a rich man.  According to his financial disclosure report, filed Oct. 23 with the Senate Office of Public Records, Mr. Kirk has publicly traded assets worth between $2.74 million and $5.98 million—and that’s not even including his house, car or annual income: From Jan. 1, 2008, to Oct. 22, 2009, Mr. Kirk reported earned income totaling $349,187.50. (By Jessica Leving)

Fishy campaign spending report

reveals Michaud's taste in food

WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 —There’s something a little fishy about U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud’s  latest filing with the Federal Election Commission. The campaign spending disclosure forms of the Maine Democrat are all in order and were submitted on time, but the intriguing fact has less to do with forms than with fins: almost a tenth of Michaud’s campaign outlays have been spent at seafood restaurans. (By Kase Wickman)

The Capitol building with blooming Buddleia in the foreground. (Photo by Caroline Treadway -- Boston University Washington News Service)

A traveler’s guide

to visiting the Capitol

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 – People from all over the world are drawn to Capitol Hill to learn about America’s history, to see great art, to launch or advance their careers or to catch a glimpse of some of the nation’s most influential people. The range and abundance of activities for people of all ages, interests and tastes makes the Hill a must-see place for many visitors to the capital city. (By Haley Shoemaker)

Covering the Inauguration

Students from the Boston University Washington Journalism Program covered the presidential inauguration of Barack Obama for newspapers throughout New England and for television stations in Pennsylvania and New York. See the work of the Boston University Washington News Service reporters and read about their experiences here.

Last updated 07-Nov-2009
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Reporting Live From the Nation's Capital

Bostonia, the Alumni Quarterly Magazine of Boston University, did a feature article on our Washington D.C. Journalism program.

Guest Speakers

& Special Events

Linda Killian, director of the BU Washington Center, moderates a discussionon health care reform with a panel that included Rep. Jason Altmire, D-Pa., right.

Four congressmen discuss health care reform

at BU sponsored forum

The Boston University Washington Center in partnership with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars held a Capitol Hill forum Sept. 24 on health care reform featuring four members of Congress, two former presidential advisors and a Wall Street Journal editor. The discussion was moderated by Linda Killian, director of the BU Washington Center.

The panel featured Democratic Congressmen Jason Altmire of Pennsylvania and Joe Courtney of Connecticut and Republican Congressmen Michael Burgess of Texas and John Shadegg of Arizona. All of them have been involved in the health care debate and the legislative efforts to reform the current system. [MORE]

A Report Card: The first 100 days of the Obama administration

Leading journalists and academics gave a candid overview of the first 100 days of the Obama administration at an event organized by Linda Killian, the director of the Boston University Washington Center. MORE

Ericka Niedowski

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. [MORE]

Susan Milligan

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.[MORE]

David Tamasi

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. [MORE]

David Mark

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." [MORE]

James Carroll

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. [MORE]

Jeffrey Birnbaum

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 [MORE]

               Dave Levinthal

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 [MORE]

Keith White

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 [MORE]