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Download this information for the Argus' speaker series in PDF format here. Paul Mason '77 ABC News Senior Vice President "The 2008 Political Campaign: News Coverage in the Digital Age - Blogs, debates, and why your vote might not count." APRIL 9 / 7:00 P.M. in USDAN 108 Mason will give an inside view of press coverage of the most compelling presidential campaign in a generation. He will look discuss: The 20-somethings on the bus, how did the youngest employees get the best jobs in network news? How are debates negotiated, planned and executed? How is the Internet changing the way campaigns are run? Despite all the excitement, why do we expect so little from our youngest voters? Mason is Senior Vice President of ABC News and responsible for coverage of the 2008 political campaigns. Before his current assignment, he was executive-in-charge of Nightline, This Week with George Stephanopoulos, World News Now, America This Morning, and ABC News Radio. Mason spent three years (June 2000 through July 2003) as executive producer of World News Tonight Saturday and Sunday, covering subjects ranging from the 2000 U.S. presidential campaign, disputed election, and the Florida recount; the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001; the invasion of Afghanistan; the Shuttle Columbia disaster; the diplomatic dispute over Iraq and Weapons of Mass Destruction; and the U.S. led invasion of Iraq. A 27-year veteran of ABC News, Mason's credits include primetime news documentaries, investigations, war and drug trafficking in Latin America, elections in South Africa, natural disasters, and racial and class conflict at home and abroad. Mason studied Classical Civilizations at Wesleyan; and, journalism at Columbia University, MSJ '81. He also spent three years as acting associate professor at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism (1997-2000) He currently serves as a board member for the Knight Centers for Specialized Journalism in College Park Maryland, the Overseas Press Club Foundation in New York, and is on the advisory board of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. Avi Salzman '00 Freelance Journalist "Fire the Paperboy: Is there any way to save the newspaper industry?" APRIL 16 / 7:30 P.M. in PAC 001 The country's top newspapers have lost 1.4 million subscribers over the past four years, with major newspapers like the Los Angeles Times and Boston Globe losing 20 percent of their readers over that period. Americans, particularly young people, get their news on the Internet, where it's free. But newspapers haven't figured out how to make enough money online to counter their losses on the print side, and they've begun cutting staff in earnest. Newspapers have dropped a quarter of their staffs since 1990, according to a recent New Yorker article. That means at papers like The Hartford Courant there are many fewer people than there were 10 years ago covering the statehouse and Connecticut politicians in Washington. The irony is that the public is no less interested in news, and globalization has expanded the audience. Young people interested in getting journalism jobs have reason to be worried: they are entering a field that is short on positions and long on turmoil. But there are lots of opportunities, and people who get into the business now will have a chance to shape the future of news. Salzman is a journalist who has written for The New York Times, The Hartford Courant, the American Lawyer, and various small newspapers. He is currently studying business reporting at Columbia University as the Lorana Sullivan Fellow in Investigative Business Journalism. He grew up in New York and majored in English and history at Wesleyan, where he was also an editor at The Argus. His big break in journalism came when he wrote an op-ed for the Times about chalking at Wesleyan. Eric Gershon '98 Hartford Courant Business Reporter "8 Weeks, 12 Dwarves, 3 Camels and All 72 Rockettes: You Call This Work?" APRIL 23 / 7:30 P.M. in PAC 001 Gershon will analyze the allure of journalism besides the chance to bring down The Man; why business news might be more interesting that you thought; and why you should care that newspapers are in big trouble even if you only read news online. Gershon has covered City Hall in San Francisco, a Great White shark in a Cape Cod swimming hole, an American band on tour in Germany and defense contractors in - where else? -Middletown, Conn. A staff reporter for The Hartford Courant, he has also written for, among others, The San Francisco Examiner, The Boston Phoenix and the Cape Cod Times. |