Great civic journalism opportunity

By Christine Biondo

Last week undoubtedly provided UNLV with an abundance of unique, interactive learning opportunities which I wish more students would have taken advantage of. As a political science graduate student it was a bit disappointing to see the array of political events being offered which were met with such a low student turn out. I am thankful that the media department not only encouraged, but more or less forced their students to go, because who knows how much of a turn out there would have been otherwise, particularly for the Brookings event on Friday, November 16^th, which was an opportunity that many college campuses across the United States will never get the chance to participate in. In a year of such pivotal political events, it is encouraging to see UNLV be such an integral part to the political process.

 

While the Brookings event this past Friday did have its low points, overall it was an excellent event to be held on our campus following the presidential debates on Thursday evening. The ABC commentator was perhaps not the most engaging speaker, but he did attempt to touch on the “hot topics” surrounding our current political environment. In my opinion, too much time was spent recapping the debate the night before which we had all seen or at least heard about prior to this event, and not enough time was spent on the topics that the debates have typically failed to acknowledge or discuss, which are arguably just as important, or perhaps even more so, than the “sexy” topics that have taken up the airwaves. The second panel did push a bit further in addressing topics that are seemingly pertinent to our current political environment, and there were a variety of viewpoints and expertise represented, which always provides for a better, more informative discussion.

 

One disappointing aspect of the Brookings event was the format used to engage student participation and facilitate questions. Some of us students were asked to prepare questions ahead of time and email them in, which is fine, in theory, to assure certain topics are perhaps covered. Upon arriving to the event we were presented with various questions, which I am assuming came from a couple of students who had submitted them, and were told to ask them during particular panel sessions. Having had some of the questions that were passed being my own questions I was not overly offended by this process, but I was a bit distraught that it seemed that there was little faith that students could hear the positions of the various panelists and accordingly come up with questions on their own. I have quite a bit more faith in our students, and it seems a bit more fitting that questions would be formulated after hearing the panelists speak, so they are more fitting to the positions presented.

 

The Brookings event was a great civic journalism opportunity in that it engaged a variety of people who probably have not had much opportunity to actually get to be actively involved in political processes. It also was an event that covered topics that traditional journalism all too often overlooks, and gave people the opportunity to ask questions and voice opinions about what really affects them. Overall, it was an honor for UNLV to host these unique political events in an election year where a lot is at stake and up for debate, and we can only hope that student voting behaviors do not reflect the patterns of participation in the events over the last week.