Reporters joined some of the politicians and advocates they cover to debate how well the new media is reporting on Connecticut — and what it means. Read on to find out why State Sens. Martin Looney and Toni Harp believe they don’t have stronger opponents, and why anchorman Derek Slap (at left in photo) left the tube to work for politicians.
The occasion for this Fourth Estate role reversal was a forum organized by Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) journalism professor Jerry Dunklee. The forum, sponsored by Dunklee’s department and Connecticut’s Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) chapter, took place Sunday afternoon at SCSU.
Dunklee called on his talents as a talk-show host (he used to have a popular show on WELI in the days before talk radio turned from thoughtful to nasty) to engage a room full of 31 editors, reporters, professors, elected officials and government staffers in a town-meeting style assessment of the state of news coverage in 21st century Connecticut.
He asked the two New Haven state senators present whether they believe the shrinking of the Capitol press corp and local newspaper and radio newsrooms explains why they rarely face serious challenges for reelection. State Sen. Martin Looney saw the disappearance of the party lever as more of a factor; he also saw hope in the new public-financing system that will help more challengers mount campaigns against incumbents. Click on the play arrow to watch him make the case.
Toni Harp, on the other hand, echoed Dunklee’s point by speaking about how the lack of detailed Capitol coverage allows some of her colleagues to escape scrutiny by voters back home. Click on the play arrow to watch her comment.
Not everyone mourned the state of news coverage in the state.
Andy Sauer, for instance, saw some problems, but also some hope. Sauer used to report for the Waterbury Republican-American. He left to join an ad/p.r. agency. Then he took over the state chapter of Common Cause, in which capacity he lobbies under the Dome.
Click on the play arrow below to watch as he describes some problems but then also debates with Dunklee.
“News That Tastes Good” vs.
“News That’s Good For You
Local town coverage came under scrutiny from Michael Bingham, editor of Business New Haven and an SCSU journalism prof. Bingham spoke about how the ownership of weeklies has shortchanged coverage in towns like Stratford, where he lives.
Click on the play arrow below for a snippet of that, as well as Bingham’s riff on Anna Nicole Journalism
And Derek Slap (who’s pictured at the top of this article with Catherine Sullivan-DeCarlo, spokeswoman for the New Haven Board of Ed)? “I was anchoring shows I would not watch,” he said. So he left TV to work first for New Haven Mayor John DeStefano, then (his current post) Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz.
Click on the play arrow below to watch him pitch Bysiewicz’s proposal to allow 17-year-olds to vote, then describe his disenchantment with tube journalism.