 "Photo: Roman Goldstein")
In past presidential debates at Washington University, students have watched members of the media crowd campus, but for the vice presidential debate on Oct. 2, that crowd will double in size.
Despite the significant media presence for this debate, the University administration does not foresee any difficulties accommodating media members.
According to Sue Killenberg McGinn, executive director of University communications, the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) has received more than 2,800 media credential requests, which is twice as many as the number of credentialed media at the University in 2004 and more than any other debate at the University.
It is still not certain how many of those 2,800 will show up on Oct 2.
“Some media organizations will put in more names than will actually come,” McGinn said. “They may over-credential to make sure they have enough to account for staff schedule changes or vacations or sickness.”
Additionally, McGinn confirmed that MSNBC and CBS will have live broadcasts on campus, while C-SPAN and CNN will bring tour buses to the University.
MSNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews” will be returning to campus after broadcasting live for the presidential debate in 2004. According to McGinn, like in 2004, MSNBC will be broadcasting from in front of Graham Chapel, starting at 11 a.m. on Oct. 2 and continuing into the evening.
Additionally, CBS’s “The Early Show” with Harry Smith and Maggie Rodriguez will broadcast live from Holmes Lounge on debate day beginning at 5:30 a.m. and outside Holmes Lounge from 7 to 8 a.m. On Oct. 3, the show is tentatively broadcasting from Tisch Commons in the Danforth University Center (DUC) from 5:30 to 8 a.m.
According to McGinn, both networks invite students to show up for the broadcasts.
“They’d love students coming out there waving hello to Mom and Dad with signs, showing their Washington U. spirit,” McGinn said. “They want students in the backdrop.”
Additionally, CNN will have its Election Express Yourself tour bus, a specially designed Airstream trailer, outside the DUC on Oct. 2 from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and C-SPAN will have its Road to the White House tour bus in front of the Mallinckrodt Center near the intersection of Wallace Drive and Forsyth Boulevard on Oct. 1 and 2.
With those broadcasts and nearly 2,800 journalists, the media presence on campus will be easily visible.
“This is an interesting debate because it’s the only vice presidential debate,” said Rob Wild, chair of the Vice Presidential Debate Steering Committee. “There’s a lot of interest in seeing these candidates together, because this is theoretically the only time the candidates would debate together.”
Wild believes that the candidates’ personaes add to the debate’s flavor, but he did not know if that influenced the number of credentialed media.
“I think both candidates are very interesting, and I think Gov. Palin has gotten a lot of media coverage certainly,” Wild said. “It wouldn’t be fair for me to speculate whether her entering the race changed things.”
The most major stresses that may come from the increased media presence involve workspaces and equipment. With the potential for 2,800 journalists on campus, the University will be more pressed for space in this debate than in previous debates.
“What they need to know is that they have a place where they can make a cell phone call, know the cell phone will work, pick up a land line, file a story, plug in a laptop, use wireless,” Wild said.
A huge fraction of media members, according to McGinn, will likely work in the media filing center, which will be located in the recreational gym in the Athletic Complex and serve as the primary reporting center.
“The CPD determines who gets into the debate hall, but the majority of the print media, the majority of even the television correspondents, they are in the media filing center,” McGinn said.
Other media members will be reporting live from various areas on campus, and only a small number of people, mostly from the six major networks, will be in the debate hall itself.
Wild estimates that the University will need to supply about 600 seated positions in the media filing center.
Each seated position comes with whatever else a media outlet requests; options include desks, chairs, cabinets, phones, trailers, appliances, printers and wireless Internet.
“We’re a full-service operation,” Wild said.
With the increased media presence, the University will likely have to supply more equipment for the media than in previous debates.
The University should be able to accommodate all equipment requests, according to Wild. Media members will have to purchase all equipment from the University using a special form on the University’s debate Web site.
The only other major concern with accommodating the media is parking, according to Wild, but the University has taken measures to provide sufficient parking space. According to Nicholas Stoff, director of Parking and Transportation Services, at least 400 spaces in the Millbrook Garage will be reserved for the media on Thursday.
“There is possibility that as the debate grows closer, that it might be necessary to capture additional spaces,” Stoff said. “We’ll do the best we can to get the word out to campus community.”
Wild believes that the increased media presence will be no problem for the University.
“We are very confident that we will easily be able to accommodate every member of the media who comes here, make sure they’re fed, make sure their cell phones work,” Wild said. “Those are the bigger concerns we have to prepare for.”
For students, the experience of media spotlight is highly worth it, even though it may infringe upon their daily lives.
“I think it’s really cool that we’re getting all this attention, especially for such a historical debate,” sophomore Elena Hight said. “For a week it infringes upon the students’ ability to get around and get to their educational things. But it’s only a week.”
Hight feels that the economic crisis and the candidates’ personae may have contributed to the increased media attention for this debate.
“Sarah Palin and Barack Obama are obviously going to garner more media attention,” Hight said. “Simply because it’s a woman vice presidential candidate; it’s the first African-American presidential candidate.”
