One of the strengths of the program that I am participating in is that TFAS has the connections to command good speakers. Below are some of the interesting forums we have had recently.

War Coverage
Last Wednesday (June 23) we had a very interesting forum with three journalists who had covered the war: Simon Marks (Fox News; PBS), Stephen Hayes (Weekly Standard), and Mark Johnson (Charlotte Observer). All three of the panelists had been in Iraq. Two of them were embedded reporters. While I don’t know if we ended the session much closer to our goal of developing an ethic of war coverage, we did hear some fascinating accounts of the experiences of three serious journalists.
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Monday night as I was making supper someone prank-knocked on my apartment door. My kitchen is in the front of the apartment, so it didn’t take me long to open the door. As l looked up the stairs that pass my apartment I saw the perpetrators fleeing. The jokesters were high schoolers who are at Georgetown for the Future Leaders of America Conference. I couldn’t help but laugh at the irony.

On Thursday (June 24) I attended a press conference with filmmaker Michael Moore outside the Cannon Building. Moore was hyping the release of his highly controversial film ‘Fahrenheit 9/11′. Like a church choir in the deep South, the Congressional Black Caucus flanked Moore to nod and voice support as he made his points.

In his brief statement Moore outlined the main themes of the movie starting with the Florida recounts and moving through September 11, 2001, finally concluding with the current war on terror. One young reporter asked him about the reports of connections to the Hezbollah terrorist organization. Moore deflected the comment saying that the reporter should listen to Rush Limbaugh for entertainment, but not for news. Not having heard what Rush said, I don’t know if he was misinformed. At the least, news stories since then indicate that terrorists do like Moore’s movie.
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Conservatives are sometimes accused of being dispassionate in communicating their ideas. Republicans may have great policy ideas, but no one is moved by policy speeches. Liberals sometimes do a better job of attaching a story or a human interest anecdote to their causes. On Tuesday night my economics class had both; Dr. Rustici’s ideology was right and he illustrated it masterfully.
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Sunday I went with Eric, a friend from BJ, to Falls Church, VA, to try to track down a Bible Presbyterian Church he had seen in a directory. After exiting the Falls Church station we found the main road and began walking toward the church. Strike that. We began walking away from the church thinking that we were walking toward the church. The street numbers started going down and then began going up, honest!
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Friday (June 18) was my last day working in the National Press Building. The KRT Editorial Offices and the Knight Ridder Washington Bureau are combining offices and moving to a newly constructed building a few blocks away. Throughout last week everyone loaded their belongings into orange crates for movers to carry away. After 5:00 Friday the movers began their work.

For my part the move has been relatively painless. Rather than leaving my work camera and laptop at the office Friday I took them home with me. When I went in Monday I didn’t have much moving in to do. As an intern (free labor), I had feared that this move might be much worse.

Friday the Institute arranged for us to watch a live broadcast of CNN’s Crossfire at George Washington University. Crossfire features commentators from opposite ends of the political spectrum hashing current news. The general melee that ensues is designed as much for entertainment as communicating information. Earlier this week Al Sharpton co-hosted Crossfire representing the left.

Because of breaking news Friday’s show ended up being much different than usual. The show was reworked to react to the unfortunate death of Paul Johnson in Saudia Arabia. Consequently we saw a subdued and abbreviated version of Crossfire. It was still an enjoyable experience. Crossfire has come a long way since years ago when I watched tapings with my family in the CNN Center in Atlanta.

Wednesday (June 16) I had two interesting photo assignments. My first shoot was a news conference in one of the Senate office buildings. Ted Kennedy–flanked by two Harvard Law professors–explained why there should be a independent Congressional investigation into human right’s violations in Iraq. Kennedy called for impeachment reaching as high up the chain of command as necessary. Kennedy’s feigned non-partisan tone was betrayed when at one point he muttered that he thought the best way to correct the problems was to elect John Kerry President.

Later that day I joined one of the writing interns to cover a photo-op with Actress Angelina Jolie in the Senate Building. Jolie is a UN Refugee Agency Goodwill Ambassador. She was on the Hill to meet with Richard Lugar (R-IN), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

See pictures from the two events in the News photos #1 gallery.

Tuesday I met Chuck Kennedy, something of a legend among D.C. photographers. Chuck is a long-time photographer for Knight Ridder. He has a great portfolio of photos taken all over the capital. You have probably seen his work at some point. Chuck took the only photos of the Reagan funeral from the dome of the Capitol Building. One of his photos is on the cover of the current issue of U.S. News and World Report.

Chuck is a very pleasant, unassuming guy. I enjoyed having a chance to talk with him while he was in the office waiting around for a photo assignment.

My first photos went on the KRT photo wire Thursday (June 10). Perhaps in an effort to encourage the new intern, the photo editors ran two photos of the Reagan Building draped for mourning. With the drapes and large photos of Reagan, the building looks very impressive.

Last Tuesday I attended a press conference at the U.S. Postal Service office in L’Enfant Plaza. Executives from GM and the post office unveiled an experimental mail van that runs on hydrogen. Everyone hailed the pioneering spirit of the event. Three photos from the shoot ran on the wire.

I hope to put a gallery up soon with some of my news photos.

Monday I took the necessary paperwork and made a trip to the Capitol Building to get my press credentials. I would have gotten my credentials last week, but with the rush of media to Washington for Reagan’s funeral it was impractical to do so. Now that I have a press pass, I can access most events around the capital. Greater access should lead to more exciting assigments.

My first weekend since arriving at Georgetown came and went quickly. I was thankful for the change of pace. I didn’t fulfill my all of ambitious plans for the weekend, but I was glad to catch up on some things. I cleaned and organized my apartment and was able to do some cooking.

I was also thankful to be able to go to church with friends from BJ who are in the city this summer. In my current setting it is a particular blessing to be able to be together with other believers and worship the Lord.

A couple nights ago I went to Ben and Jerry’s with my apartment-mates. While we were ordering our ice cream we heard that Hillary and Chelsea Clinton were just down the street at the Café Milano.

I had my camera with me, and my roommates and I decided that this was too good an opportunity to pass up. We decided to drop by the Café Milano on our way back to campus. The secret service vehicles that were parked on the street helped us locate the right place.

First we walked by the open-air restaurant trying to peer inside and catch a glimpse of the Clintons. We couldn’t see anything so we casually turned around and took another pass going the other direction. Realizing that it probably looked like we were casing the joint we decided to take a more direct approach—go right in.

We walked into the restaurant, and one of my roommates surprised all of us by asking for a table. (I had just been planning on asking how long the wait was so that there would be no commitment.) The maitre d’ informed us that we they could not seat us in the dining room because of our dress. Apparently the Café Milano doesn’t allow people in flip-flops or shorts to dine in—at least not when the former first family is there. Having exhausted our options we headed home unsuccessful. No great loss though. I hope to do better than seeing the Clintons this summer.

Because I work in the National Press Building my office is conveniently located just a few floors below the National Press Club. The NPC has a restaurant, a hotel, and a variety of professional services that it makes available to members. As an intern I can join the Press Club for the summer for a nominal fee.

From my first day at KRT I had heard about free taco night at the Press Club. Every Friday evening the restaurant on the 13th floor has free tacos. After work this Friday, I went upstairs with my supervisor and several other interns for my first taste of taco night. I really hadn’t known what to expect, but I did indeed enjoy the all-you-can-eat tacos. All jokes about starving interns aside, I expect that next I will find myself back at taco night again.

The last few days have been a blur. With internship work by day, classes by night, and homework whenever possible, I don’t spend much time sitting still. The Reagan funeral has also added to the hectic schedule.

Nonetheless the last several days have been great. On Wednesday Fred Barnes (Weekly Standard; Fox News) spoke to our class. I found out that he got his start in journalism in the fair state of South Carolina. In his lecture Mr. Barnes gave a fairly non-partisan presentation of how to get into the journalism business. When the Q&A began the discussion got a little heated as kids attacked Fox News et al. I think that a contingent of more liberal students had been waiting for a chance to give Mr. Barnes a hard time. After class I had a chance to talk with him briefly.
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At the risk of over-summarizing, I will attempt to briefly report on the first two days of academic activity.

June 6, 2004
The day was taken up with orientation session for the elective leadership scholars program.

Session One
We began the morning with a political leadership lecture by Steve Hayward, an author and Reagan expert. Mr. Hayward is currently working on his second book about the Reagan presidency. In his lecture he compared the exceptional political leadership of Lincoln, Churchill, and Reagan. Mr. Hayward emphasized the importance of insight and imagination over the current proliferation of political science theory. (“If you get to Washington it won’t matter that you can do voter regression analysis three different ways.”) In light of current events the lecture was particularly interesting.
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Friday I finished up my exams, and with help from my parents packed a good portion of my earthly possesions into the trunk of our Corolla. Around 6:30 we headed north to VA where we spent the night with dad’s mom (”G-mom”). Saturday morning we met my brother and sister-in-law (John & Darla) and drove into Washington DC.

John guided us to Georgetown effortlessly, and (with some effort) we found my dormitory. I am now registered, oriented, and fully moved in. For the next two months I will reside in a bi-level apartment with three other students. We have a living room, kitchen, two bedrooms with bunk beds, and in-room internet access.

I’m looking forward to getting to know the other students in the Institute. Already I have enjoyed reading through our orientation materials and learning more about my classmates. The students come from a variety of places and have landed internships with some interesting organizations.

We don’t begin our regular schedule until Tuesday, so I look forward to having a little time to get my bearings before we get going full speed.

D.C. Report is the journal of Michael Collins, a Junior Marketing Management major at Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina.

Michael is spending the months of June and July in Washington DC. He is studying at the Institute on Political Journalism at Georgetown University and interning as a photographer with Knight-Ridder Tribune news service. (more…)