56Local and national media continue to consult USC Annenberg faculty for their coverage of the 2004 elections. Communication and journalism professors have provided thoughtful analysis and perspective on issues ranging from media ethics, political strategy, and historical comparisons in a variety of publications and broadcast outlets, including the Los Angeles Times , Associated Press, National Public Radio, CNN and others. Associate dean Martin Kaplan (pictured) was recently featured on CNN's NewsNight with Aaron Brown . USC Annenberg associate dean Tom Hollihan tells the Los Angeles Times in an Oct. 27 article that conservative talk radio likely won’t help California Republican Senate candidate Bill Jones win the election. "It’s free," Hollihan says, citing one advantage of talk radio. "TV ads are going to reach undecided voters, and talk radio is going to reach the political base."
Hollihan in the Los Angeles Times» USC Annenberg associate dean and Norman Lear Center director Marty Kaplan says in an Oct. 26 Associated Press article that California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is stepping on dangerous ground by campaigning in Ohio for President Bush. "This is a very high stakes moment in this presidential race, and if Ohio is the Florida of this year's race, there won't be a lot of applauding among California Democrats for Schwarzenegger's role in that," says Kaplan in the article run by papers such as the San Francisco Chronicle , San Jose Mercury News and Miami Herald . "He can get away with a lot, but this is a real high stakes moment and he might not be cut the same slack." Also, he tells the Hollywood Reporter on Oct. 26 that, with a close election expected, "small problems in various places can have very big consequences." But, he predicts, "We will look back fondly at 2000 as a smooth election."
Kaplan in the Hollywood Reporter» Kaplan in the Associated Press» Journalism professor Judy Muller says on National Public Radio that both President George W. Bush and Democratic Presidential nominee John Kerry have paid little attention to crime during the election. "We've heard a lot in this Presidential campaign about fighting terrorists in far away urban hellholes," Muller says. "We have not heard a lot about fighting terrorists in our own urban hellholes. In fact, we haven't really heard anything in this campaign about the gang violence that continues to terrorize entire communities here at home."
Muller on NPR» Journalism professor Murray Fromson compares the 2004 and 1960 Presidential debates during an Oct. 16 interview with National Public Radio’s Weekend America program. "They're not really debates in which the participants really go eyeball-to-eyeball with each other," Fromson says. "They're interested in theater, and they do give people an impression."
Fromson on NPR» Neal Gabler , senior fellow at USC Annenberg’s Norman Lear Center and author of Life the Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality , writes an Oct. 24 opinion article in the Los Angeles Times about Bush’s top political aide, Karl Rove. "Rove, however, is more than a political sharpie with a bulging bag of dirty tricks," Gabler writes. "His campaign shenanigans -- past and future -- go to the heart of what this election is about."
Gabler's Los Angeles Times op-ed» KTTV Fox 11 in Los Angeles interviewed journalism professor Bryce Nelson about California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's avoidance of the serious press. To help California voters know what is happening, "It is very important for the governor to subject himself to regular press conferences," Nelson said. Citing misquotation of the governor's words when he met recently with Hollywood reporters of the foreign press, Nelson said the governor "should appear before the American press rather than the tabloid press of every other country in the world." Nelson suggested that the governor should meet with the governmental press in Sacramento every two weeks, or at the very least, every month. Journalism professor Jonathan Kotler tells public radio's Marketplace on Oct. 11 that the equal time rules for broadcast stations do not apply to news documentaries. Marketplace interviewed Kotler, an expert in media law, about the Sinclair Broadcasting company’s plans to air a documentary critical of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry on its 62 television stations across the country. "Whether or not it's an abuse of the airwaves, which it may or may not be, it's perfectly legal," he says. He says the FCC could eventually decide the film is not a news documentary, but by that time the election would be long over.
Kotler on Marketplace » Communication professor Jonathan Taplin explains to public radio’s Marketplace on Oct. 8 why he thinks the Presidential debates have been a ratings-winner for the television networks this season. "What is happening to our supposedly turned-off, tuned-out political audience? I suggest that the debates have turned the Presidential race into the ultimate reality show. Like The Apprentice , both candidates are auditioning for a big job – only we get to say, 'you're fired.'"
Taplin on Marketplace »