Politics, American Government, and Elections: Lessons Learned and Skills Sharpened -- E-Portfolio, Thomas Hartwell

Political Communication and the Creation of Finished Products for Presentation

This semester's work in our political reporting course gave me the skills necessary to research, observe, and intelligently report on issues affecting or pertaining to the 2016 presidential race and the effects of that race. Although I experienced and learned much that I didn't already know, I also expanded my knowledge on a number of subjects and topics within the realm of U.S. government and politics. 

Three key take-aways:

1. RESEARCH/OBSERVATION: Observation and research takes teamwork; if you're on your own, make records. 

This take-away works hand-in-hand with, "always be more prepared than you think you have to be." As a more specific illustration, I'll use the example of the Morehouse College Bernie Sanders event. As it was my first rally, or political event in general for that matter, I had no specific expectations and thought that I had properly prepared. When I arrived, I was proven mistaken. When I arrived more than an hour early, the line to enter the rally stretched for miles. My group members arrived after I did, still on time, but were forced into an even longer wait time. The teamwork aspect began here. I had to be in close communication with my group members, my other classmates, and my professors in order to find a way into the rally. Also, while inside, I had to take photos, conduct interviews, etc., while I relied on group members to observe and record surrogate speeches and Sanders' speech rhetoric.

Lines to enter the Morehouse College rally stretched for miles long before the
rally was set to begin. Photo by Thomas Hartwell

(Confidence also came into play here, as I decided to give a shot to the press entrance, where we were given access to the media section and things began to improve). At this event and at others, teamwork in observation was essential. Photos, notes, interviews, and other observations cannot effectively be conducted by one person. If that one individual does find themselves alone, however, notes and audio/video recorded records are essential. Relying on one's own memory alone is both unrealistic and, in terms of reliable journalism, completely irresponsible. Taking detailed records with names, dates, times, emails, numbers, etc., saved me in writing stories and research reports later.

2. NARRATIVE/PRESENTATION OF POLICOM: The more eyes, the better in editing; someone else might know better than you, so listen.

In a college setting, having already completed three and a half years of courses, it was easy to feel that my way was best in completing what was often group assignments. However, in working with professionals and students of different backgrounds, I attempted to put my own ideas of what I thought was best on the "back-burner" in order to gain insight into my areas of less knowledge from those who had more. The result of understanding that someone else may know better about a specific area of work will benefit those who concede to that notion and listen in the long run. The more people who look at a draft of a research report or a news story allows for more eyes educated on an array of topics and simply more eyes to catch grammatical errors.

3. FRAMING: The way that you, as the reporter, present information can determine what the audience thinks/talks about -- that's a lot of power. 

This take-away ties into the idea of framing and even media bias discussed in our course. While it is widely accepted that the media or media presentation of news stories cannot determine how people feel about a topic or story, it is a fact that the media decides what stories to present and, therefore, determines what people think about. This course was a depiction of what my career could potentially look like, so in my writing and even in my editing of group members' writing, I, and all of us, needed to be careful to exclude opinion from our presentation. We also needed to understand what it was that we were deciding to present, and from what angle, and we needed to understand that choosing not to present certain information can often be seen as taking a side. While this was only a course, and I was not subject to, for example, lawsuits based on what I presented, I, and all of us, need to recognize the ability we could potentially have in a journalistic line of work.

Journalism and Political Research Projects

Content Analysis #1: Analysis of Rubio and Sanders campaign websites

This content analysis analyzed the campaign websites of Marco Rubio and Bernie Sanders for mobilization tactics of young voters. The tactics were searched for and documented by creating a code sheet for comparison. The code sheet took into account buzz words and social media words used on the campaign website homepage which were seen as attractive to a young voter base. This code sheet was used as a metric of discussion for the paper. Words like share, like, comment, new voter, social media, video content, and headlines compiled as "lists" (in Buzzfeed style) were included on the code sheet. The website homepages were also analyzed visually. Group members further delved into the context of comments and excerpts from deeper pages within the websites which could have been seen as attractive to a young voter base, but these sections were not included in the coding and instead were discussed in the findings and discussion. Our group, in editing, was careful to search for and remove sections that were opinionated, or could not be properly backed up with either visual evidence or expert sources. 

My specific contributions to this project were the writing of the introduction, methods, and a portion of the findings and discussion sections as well as the screenshots and identifying and citing of appropriate sources both in-text and on the references page. I also edited the paper for cohesive reading and objectivity.

News Story #1: Sanders Morehouse college rally event

On February 16, 2016, at Morehouse College, Bernie Sanders and several campaign surrogates spoke on behalf of his campaign for president. This assignment was a presentation of a news story about the event with proper AP style, photo captions, bylines, and objective, journalistic reporting. The choice of angle on the story was our own, and we chose to present the story from the perspective of Sanders' growth in poll numbers and common campaign rhetoric. We also chose to focus on the age of supporters whom we interviewed, (which ranged from 16-93) as Sanders' campaign is often seen as supported solely by Millennials. Comments came from campaign surrogates, Bernie supporters young and old, and Sanders' own speech rhetoric. 

My specific contributions to this project were conducting all the interviews, photography, captions, writing the story, and AP style editing.

Field Research Project: Analysis of Sanders' rhetoric in his speeches (Morehouse campaign rally)

Our group presented the Morehouse College rally as a news story (as mentioned above), as well as produced a field research project on it. Our field research, considered the same night as the news story, focused on the rhetoric in Sanders' speech. Our group focused on the language and rhetorical strategies that Sanders and his surrogates used in order to mobilize voters for their cause; we focused mainly on the young voter base supporting Sanders and presented the question, "How is he mobilizing young voters?" Our group used the interviews, photos, and audio/video recordings that we captured as evidence to our claims of mobilization tactics and discussed, in the research report, how those tactics might result in voter turnout.

My specific contributions to this project were contributions to the findings and discussion as well as the key findings section of the paper and overall editing of paper for cohesive reading and accuracy. I also found related sources to sure up expert comments and cited sources both in-text and on the references page.

News Story #2: Kasich town hall at KSU

Our group wrote this news story from the very simple angle of "what did Kasich say?" We also considered the rhetoric he was using as it pertained to the presidential race. His speech seemed more inspirational than that of a campaign event, and the audience questions prodded him for more aggression and policy issues. Our story focused on his answers to those questions, his own rhetoric, and the crowd of young people (not normally his target) in attendance. Comments ranged from audience questions to Kasich's own words to reactions after the event from others in the audience. Again, proper AP style, photos, captions, bylines, etc., were expected.

John Kasich speaks at a town hall event at Kennesaw State University.
Photo by Thomas Hartwell

My specific contributions to this project were editing for AP style, taking photos, writing captions, and small contributions to story writing.

News Story #3: State of the presidential race and Republican contested convention chances

This story focused on the presidential race as a whole from beginning to the time of the project deadline. Our group focused on the GOP race and included a delegate count as a graphic to illustrate a horserace frame. This news story required discussion with an expert in the field of politics (Kerwin Swint) and also provided comments from voters and statistics from large media conglomerates (CNN). The story was an in-depth look at the GOP race thus far, candidate behavior, debate results, primaries, and other influential factors in 2016 campaigns. Potential future predictions from experts were included and perspectives and comments from all sides were presented on issues, primaries, and a potential contested convention. 

My specific contributions to this project were the writing of the story and conducting of two of the three interviews.

Content Analysis #2: Analysis of two media outlets (CNN and Fox) and their framing of 2016 presidential campaign stories

This research project required in-depth coding and understanding of 50 news stories between two media outlets, CNN and Fox. 25 stories on the current presidential race from each outlet were compiled, read, and analyzed before being organized into two code sheets. The code sheets considered the dominant frame of each story and categorized them based on an agreed upon set of criteria. Dominant frames could be shared. The frames were counted, averaged and compiled into data sets represented in two charts. The research paper revolved around the different ways in which media outlets report the same events/stories. Our findings showed a difference and the differences as well as possible explanations of the idea of framing from outside sources were discussed. Findings were compared and in a more open presentation/discussion, possible media biases were explored with the rest of the class and the instructors.

My specific contributions to this project were providing screenshots, making graphs, and the writing of the paper after receiving the results of the coding. I also created appendices and brought in and cited sources both in-text and on the reference page.

Story Visuals

Bernie Sanders speaks to a crowd of more than 5,000 at
Morehouse College in Atlanta. Photo by Thomas Hartwell

This photo, taken by me, encompasses the atmosphere of the rally event. Sanders and his surrogates spoke for hours about his accomplishments, his record of human rights support, and his hopes of continuing that support in the White House. Reporting the news of events like this was utterly exciting and the surroundings and constant movement and noise was a reflection of the energy it takes to bring together all of the necessary aspects of reporting.

Bernie supporters brandished signs, dressed up, and brought their friends
to show support for the 2016 candidate. Photo by Thomas Hartwell

Another of my photos speaks to a privilege that journalism as a whole brings -- meeting so many interesting people. This photo was in the running, but was not used in the course's required story work. I wanted to include it, however, because beyond the academic and professional aspects of reporting and researching American government and elections, are personal ones. Meeting and interacting and hearing stories of so many interesting people both furthered my excitement for the assignments I was on, but also for my career in journalism.

Course Objectives

Our courses learning objectives expressed the goals of the course to produce a reporter/researcher who could intelligently and accurately capture and report or portray the essence of an event or the entirety of the 2016 race in a cohesive unit of work, often with partners. The objectives and my own assessment of whether or not I accomplished the goals of those course objectives follow.

· Demonstrating the ability to produce high quality research projects relating to political communication in American elections 

Yes, I feel that I accomplished this goal. This course allowed for teamwork between students of different specialties and backgrounds to produce high quality work and required research that, in most respects, could not, in turn, produce work of any non-informed manner. I learned how to research different aspects of what would, to me, normally be a news story in ways that could be presented cohesively and understandably to a general audience.

· Accurately describing and providing critical perspectives on the intersection between political communication and American elections

Yes, I feel that this goal was accomplished. I feel that I already had a grasp on the political aspects of the course and could, for the most part, understand and present different perspectives of those aspects. However, I do feel that, even if I had not put much effort into learning more about American Politics and Government, I have become much more informed and knowledgeable on these topics. Furthermore, I have developed a want to learn further about these topics and, outside of class, but surely as a result of the course in part, have been researching and observing and seeking out information pertaining to American Government and Elections.

· Producing high quality political journalism on the theme of American elections 

Yes, I feel that I accomplished this goal. I already had a strong understanding of the presentation of news and journalism as a whole before beginning this course, but had not yet written on the applied themes alone. Being in this course educated me on the topic and introduced me to the many ways and angles in which political news is reported. The limitations and biases and ways to avoid them were also briefly explored, and often encountered in the course as well. Even these obstacles presented challenges for learning. All of these aspects of the process of producing pieces of journalism contributed to the production of high quality work for the course. 

· Respectfully observing American political communication processes in practice 

I feel that this goal was completed/observed for the most part. While I often struggled keeping my opinion to myself in the class discussions and not being biased against certain candidates, I feel that when I went to observe political practices and when I produced pieces of political research or journalism, I was able to speak objectively, presenting all sides of the argument or research and leaving opinion up to the consumer of the information.

Confirmation bias in the media: Show me, tell me

By THOMAS HARTWELL

We, as humans, believe that we are inherently correct and seek out information that agrees with our thinking. How does this apply to our daily thinking or our consumption of products, services, and news?

Confirmation bias, or the interpreting of evidence or information in regards to existing beliefs, has been addressed often in the discussion of the presentation of news. Most believe that there should be no biases in news reporting, and journalists are taught to stay completely objective in the presentation of hard news. While, in a perfect world, consumers of news could watch/read news presented completely objectively and make educated decisions based on what they read, we do not live in a perfect world. News organizations have to incorporate what sells into the presentation of their stories. There is also a consideration of gatekeepers who run the media organizations. While the goal should always be objective reporting, people have a tendency to have strong opinions on political issues, which many times manifest themselves in subtle biases in reporting.

When we explore confirmation bias in the larger media outlets, we often encounter a widely-accepted thought pattern: "CNN and MSNBC are liberal, Fox is conservative." While this is now considered the norm, the media outlets themselves would never come out and admit to it. The media outlets, therefore, must disguise their biases as "just another way of reporting."

Let's look at Fox and MSNBC's reporting of the same story. A racially insensitive joke was told at a charity dinner recently, and both outlets wrote a story on it. Keeping in mind that Fox is considered conservative and MSNBC liberal, there is a subtle difference in the reporting in a couple ways:

Image and story from foxnews.com

Image and story from msnbc.com

1. The headlines: In Fox's case, the headline reads that both Mayor De Blasio and Hillary Clinton take part in the joke and draw criticism. If we consider Fox's possible confirmation bias, it would make sense that they would want to frame Hillary in this way. Whereas, in MSNBC's case, only De Blasio takes part in the joke, and even then it's presented as "coming at a bad time" rather than being "racially-tinged."

2. The visuals: Fox shows Clinton and De Blasio laughing and seemingly celebrating with the headline "racially-tinged joke" hovering above. It seems to be framed as the two enjoying the insensitive comment. MSNBC instead shows Clinton off to the side looking on as the joke is made. This way, she seems to not take part in the joke making. Clinton also is even standing next to the African-American gentleman, further separating herself from the insensitivity.

Images, as we've already seen, can speak a thousand words in reporting, and often do. The images we see can impact our impression of the candidate depicted. For these examples, I'll choose a picture of Ted Cruz from CNN and one from Fox.

Image from cnn.com

Image from foxnews.com

In these cases, the presentation of Ted Cruz is considered in the photos chosen to be published on the sites. CNN's picture choice is less than flattering, while Fox's looks like a campaign flier.

While minds won't necessarily be changed by only images or word choice, the presentation of information or images can alter the way that people think about a subject. Objective news reporting and an educated public would be preferable to what is widely accepted as a biased news environment, but in order to inform the public, the public must want to be informed. If it takes subtle biases (even no-so-subtle ones) to inform them, then so be it -- I'll take the news with a grain of salt.

Framing the presidential race

By THOMAS HARTWELL

The presidential race in any context is a media frenzy, but this race has been unlike any before it in many ways. As with any story, the media make choices as to how to approach the stories surrounding the presidential race, and there are four commonly used "frames" of presentation, all of which have been used to cover the year's campaigns.

Horse Race:


Horse race journalism in the political spectrum is the presentation of information as a contest or comparison of, in this case, presidential candidates. There's been a lot of talk about a possible convention contest for the Republican nomination this campaign season, and that has opened the door for A LOT of horse race journalism. With a race this close between Trump and Cruz and a candidate pulling delegates away from the two front-runners, many outlets are taking the opportunity to present some "who will win the sprint to 1,237?" stories. There has been some in regard to the Democrats' race as well, but with a race on the left seemingly more and more decidedly won by Hillary, there have been more stories about the change that Sanders' campaign has brought to politics than "who will win?"

From the Associated Press

Conflict:

Horse race and conflict presentation of the Republican race have gone hand-in-hand this campaign season. As the race has continued and candidates have dropped out, there has been more opportunity for conflict-frame journalism. For instance, this CNN article incorporates elements of the delegate race, but describes the race for the nomination between Trump and Cruz as a "duel." A search for stories about Trump on CNN and other news outlets provides a look at the presentation of Trump's campaign strategy: conflict frame and a "Trump vs..." mentality. 

From cnn.com search

Issues:

Candidates of the same party and especially opposite parties LOVE to slam each other on policy issues -- the presidential race produces plenty of these opportunities. While most attacks come on an opponent's stance on ongoing issues, current events also play a part. For example, Trump and Cruz chose to slam President Obama on immigration regulations and international terrorism in response to terrorist attacks in Brussels, Tuesday. Stories written on the issues provide voters and onlookers with the ability -- hopefully objectively, but we all know, not so much -- to make decisions based on those issues. Trump has also generated lots of attention and media spotlight for himself by making large and outrageous issue claims. He's actually winning in the presidential race on lots of the "important issues," because he has so much coverage out there on his policy on those issues.

From msnbc.com

Candidate Attributes:

Another frame of media coverage dominated by Donald Trump and, some may argue, Bernie Sanders. Trump and Sanders' revolutionary approach to U.S. politics has changed the race for good, and a lot of that focuses on their personal attributes. Plenty of stories have focused on Trump's deficiencies, outlining why he couldn't, shouldn't or wouldn't be President of the United States.

From toptens.com

This article even outlines ten reasons why Donald Trump should not be the next president, citing his past words, actions, claims, etc. 

Twitter Tirades, Kasich Kindness and Revolution Rhetoric: The State of the Race 2016

By THOMAS HARTWELL

The 2016 presidential campaign has been underway for months, and various candidates have utilized various communication outlets and tactics to ensure voters that they are the best candidate for office. There are three themes that, over the entirety of the 2016 campaign season, have stuck out to me. These three themes and the candidates behind them have impressed me (whether or not I care to endorse them).

#1 Trump Twitter Tirades

From Donald Trump Twitter

Donald Trump has always made "good" use of his twitter, promoting his "enthralling" personal thoughts and spotlighting his "razor-sharp insight" into politics, but this campaign season, he has outdone himself. There is something to be said for the impact of "Twitter storms." Consumers go on them constantly and are immediately contacted by the organizations they drag through the mud, offering steals and deals to try to make amends and stifle public, negative publicity. Trump has used his Twitter storms and account as both an entertainment outlet and a tool for his campaign. His attacks on other candidates, the media and his bolstering of his own accomplishments have drawn attention and even headlines. As we have discussed in a course which revolves around political communication, a candidate must be able to attract attention and spark discussion on social media, as well as in traditional media. Trump has done just that both with his "shocker statements" in person, recapturing some of that spotlight, but also with Twitter storms taking the wind out of less entertaining candidates' sails.

From Donald Trump Twitter

Potential downfall: In a general election against Hillary, how will Trump's Twitter foot stamping and name calling fair against Hillary's ability to get into the nitty-gritty on the issues?

#2 The Revolution Rhetoric: Bernie Sanders

How many time have we heard Bernie Sanders say the words "political revolution" and "top one percent" in his speeches, at debates, in interviews, and at rallies? While some see Sanders' focus on the issue he is most passionate about -- corporate greed, fixing income inequality, changing a corrupt campaign finance system, etc. -- as a weakness, calling him a one-issue candidate, his supporters see it as more of a brand. Sanders' brand through his rhetoric, whether critics will admit it or not, have propelled him to where he is now. Sanders, a self-proclaimed Democratic Socialist was expected to be laughed out of this primary election (much like another presidential candidate this season). Through a radical, revolutionary brand in his rhetoric, and the help of many, many Millennials in voting and spreading the word, Sanders has rocketed to several neck-and-neck state primaries with Hillary Clinton. His rhetorical brand of a government "truly for the people" has connected with many voters' anger with Washington and corporate America's greed (again, does this remind you of another candidate?). It cannot be denied that Bernie's brand is catching wind either -- even Hillary Clinton began borrowing some of his lines recently. Might Hillary be considering Bernie's brand, and might she be considering a Bernie VP to better her own stance in the eyes of Democratic Independents? We'll have to see.

Potential downfall: While his rhetoric is exciting, many see him as a one-issue candidate and his young voter following, while excited about him, doesn't turn out to polls in quite the number his campaign might hope.

#3 Kasich's Kindness

John Kasich has time and time again refused to "go negative" against other presidential candidates. Many feel that it is this choice that has doomed Kasich's campaign to fail from the beginning, but I'm not so sure. Kasich has taken the opposite approach of a Trump or, most recently, a Rubio this campaign season, attempting to show through his actions, not fighting words, that he is the candidate that can "get stuff done." As the race progressed, it became more and more obvious that Kasich wasn't a frontrunner, and, while he survived into the top four, he wasn't destined to be the next president, so why remain gentle, kind, patient Kasich? Kasich, too, is promoting a brand, but not with rhetoric; his is with non-verbal cues, actions, and choices. Kasich maintains a brand, still, of selling his product instead of commenting on why the others' are inferior. There have been inklings, however, that Kasich's brand is strategic. If Kasich does not take opportunities to attack candidates, even if the opportunity is handed to him, he remains a friend and is has been suggested that this may be his ploy for VP. The Ohio governor may be using his political communication skills as a sort of Jedi mind trick on voters, and instead, he may be focusing his energy on the frontrunners' right-hand seat.

Potential downfalls: Kasich continues to pull delegates away from the frontrunners and runs the risk of contributing to a Republican convention in which his VP dreams are slightly more cloudy.

Lessons on the campaign trail

By THOMAS HARTWELL

I am so incredibly excited to be in journalism, and my number one priority and my hope is that it shows while I'm on the job and in my finished product. As I've participated in gathering information and in reporting on the campaign trail, I have learned lessons, and sured-up others.

Bernie Sanders speaks at campaign rally at Morehouse College
in Atlanta, Tuesday, February 16. Photo by Thomas Hartwell

First lesson: the devil is in the details. I've learned this the hard way previously. The campaign events and news stories that I have covered have allowed me to build off of the mistakes that I've made. Accuracy is everything in journalism, and so is integrity -- accurate quotes and assurance of permission are paramount. During interviews, I write times of reference for good quotes, passionate answers, jokes, etc. on my recordings. I also have interviewees write their names and contact information on a notepad as well as record those elements on tape. For absolute assurance of friendly relations and a happy interviewee, I have made a habit of emailing soon after the interview thanking them and requesting a response which, in writing, displays my ability to use their photos, names etc. in my stories or blog posts (I have an archive full).

A man who preferred to be called "St. Nick" and his friend,
who preferred anonymity at the Morehouse College
 Bernie Sanders event, Tuesday, February 16.
Photo by Thomas Hartwell

On that same note, a lesson that I've learned throughout my life, but that has been reinforced in my reporting: don't take people and your interactions with them for granted. I love nothing more than meeting new people, asking them about the things they love or hot-button issues and participating in a sort of dialogue. Journalism allows for a relationship to develop very quickly and last between interviewer and interviewee -- it also provides opportunities for relationships to go South quickly, but we'll put that to the side for now. These relationships with both the people interviewed and people you simply run into have the potential to impact you in the moment and benefit you down the road.

"Look like you know what you're doing and nobody asks any questions." This is a lesson that I learned early and that I apply often. Check out the story.

My research lessons are simple: 1. Make note of everything relevant to your topic; even if you feel like you have way too much information, you'll be able to make some pretty cool connections that you wouldn't have otherwise realized. 2. If someone else knows more than you on a specific topic, LEARN FROM THEM. Political science wasn't something I was entirely interested in until recently, and I have learned SO MUCH simply from listening to my colleagues.

Gabriel Ramos stands atop the media platform at the
Morehouse College Bernie Sanders event, Tuesday,
February 16. Photo by Thomas Hartwell

It is becoming increasingly clear to me how exciting my career will be and how small the world of journalism really is. I have had an absolute blast on the trail with my colleagues, and I know that the excitement of, "You got that interview?" and "There's a great angle for a shot over there" will continue and manifest itself in important professional relationships in coming months and years. Whether or not my colleagues become competition in the future doesn't matter -- we'll all be working toward a commons goal: reliable, accurate and dependable reporting that, among other things, keeps the general public informed and the elites accountable. Final lesson: don't take your colleagues for granted -- your competition might just turn out to be your saving grace in the end.