Features

Politically Motivated

By Susan Kasten

Amid unprecedented security, and with a fraction of the staff of rival news organizations, Peggy Robinson’74 and her colleagues at the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer provided TV viewers with plenty to think about in the heady days leading up to the 2004 presidential election.

Don Perdue

Peggy Robinson’74 in the NewsHour control room during the Republican National Convention in New York City.

Robinson, NewsHour senior producer for politics and legal issues, was responsible for public television coverage of the national political conventions, which were broadcast by 349 PBS affiliates across the nation.

Although Robinson has been involved in news coverage of a dozen conventions, this was her first time coordinating everything from logistics to nightly production.

The work was made all the more challenging in cities weighed down by metal detectors, barricaded streets, and the uncertainty of massive protests. And because the networks had taken a pass on complete coverage, the job had arguably never been quite so important.

“Jim Lehrer recently gave a pretty impassioned speech about this,” Robinson says. “He pointed out that the country is at war, and we’re at a pivotal time, so the conventions are important. They may be contrived and packaged, but it’s four days when the country has a chance to get a look at the candidates and their programs. We felt if we had the resources to cover them, it was the right thing to do.”

Like thousands of members of the media from far and wide, NewsHour staff spent months concentrating on the logistics involved in covering both major events. To be ready, the NewsHour needed to design and build studios at both sites, while also putting the technical tools and people in place, including a plan for feeding and housing staff.

Added to this was the unusual burden of assessing the lay of the land in Boston and New York, such as the location of vehicle checkpoints and magnetometers that created a labyrinth in Midtown Manhattan.

In New York, where Beloit College Magazine was granted press credentials to the Republican convention, the NewsHour managed day-to-day activities from a leased workspace in the Hotel Pennsylvania (directly across the street from Madison Square Garden), produced daily programming from two sky box studios on the tenth floor of the Garden, and controlled the production behind the scenes from a curiously anonymous semi-truck trailer, which hummed just down the street from the main venue.

“We’re committed to covering a substantial amount of what’s happening at the podium,” Robinson explained just prior to the kick-off of the Republican convention. “But we’re not just there to hear ourselves talk. On a daily basis, we examine a minute-by-minute outline and make editorial judgments about what we feel needs to air and what we can cut away from.”

In Boston, breaks in the action gave anchor and executive editor Jim Lehrer the chance to interview key people. “Three of four nights in Boston, we had very long (by TV standards) sit-down conversations with Former Vice President Walter Mondale, Democratic primary candidate Howard Dean, and Former President Jimmy Carter,” says Robinson. “Those one-on-one conversations provided some of the most interesting and candid assessments that were anywhere on television.”

First Lady Laura Bush and Former President George H. W. Bush were among the high-profile interviews Lehrer conducted as part of the Republican convention. In addition to interviews, Robinson says the NewsHour covered about 70 percent of activities at the podium, which they complemented with critical analysis and discussions by two columnists on both sides of the political spectrum. A panel of historians rounded out NewsHour coverage, giving context to the news of the day.

In the months leading up to the conventions, Robinson prepared for what she described as “a massive juggling job” through numerous planning meetings and by making sure she had “delegated the right person to do an infinite number of details.”

At one point, her path intersected with Dean Armandroff’84 when the GOP’s Committee on Arrangements asked media representatives to testify about their needs months before the event took place. On behalf of PBS, Robinson laid out plans for coverage and outlined the program’s needs.

Although neither knew the other was a Beloiter at the time, Armandroff, who is chief of staff for the RNC’s Office of the Co-Chair, was essentially on the other side of the negotiating table from Robinson, as media organizations hammered out details with the party.

“A lot of negotiations take place between the media and the Republican party,” Armandroff explained in New York, the weekend before official events got underway. “It’s literally everything from how much electrical power a space will need, to how much square footage different news organizations get, to procedures for credentialing. It’s a tug of war between our staying in control, within budget, and in a position to meet security concerns, with facilitating the media’s needs in covering the convention.”

A week before the conventions began, NewsHour staff had taken up residence in the convention cities. In a New York office that would have appeared permanent — if not for the rather spartan decor and the paper signs taped to the walls — Robinson’s days were filled with meetings that analyzed the previous night’s coverage and made plans for the coming evening’s events.

When production started rolling each night, Robinson and staff shifted into high gear. From one of the many production trucks that surrounded Madison Square Garden — outfitted with equipment normally used to cover sporting events — NewsHour staff operated a full-fledged, but compact control room, its bank of TV screens trained on numerous camera views, its uplink beaming satellite signals to affiliates across the country.

Nightly, this was Robinson’s home-away-from-home, where she sat in close quarters with about a dozen headphoned colleagues, focusing intently on directing and monitoring the program. Coverage began with the NewsHour live on location, followed by three hours of prime-time convention events.

“From 7 p.m. on, I’m working in the back row of the production truck with the executive producer and the deputy director,” says Robinson, who described this part of the job as “anything but glamorous.”

“It’s live TV, so you’re working on the timing of things, like when to go to your correspondents on the floor,” she adds.

Despite a web of tight security that, at times, slowed even foot traffic around Madison Square Garden to a halt, Robinson’s overall assessment of the RNC convention coverage was positive. “All things considered, I think things went pretty smoothly in New York,” Robinson said after she returned to the nation’s capital. “Our biggest problem was just logistics every night.”

Simple things, like getting into the Garden venue, moving between the workspace and production truck, shepherding guests from the delegate floor of Madison Square Garden to the skybox studio in time for live interviews–all proved challenging.

“Everything outside of our workspace just took time to get back and forth. But we were pretty pleased after it was all done,” Robinson says. “Both the NewsHour and our convention coverage worked quite well.”

Although this was Robinson’s first time with broad responsibility for covering the conventions, she is no newcomer to these events: The GOP convention in 2004 marked her twelfth. She attended the 1984 sessions as a NewsHour reporter, a position she held for six years with a succession of beats covering politics, energy and transportation, and the Middle East and defense. She was promoted to her current role as senior producer for politics in 1986, and in subsequent years has expanded into legal affairs, education, and urban/regional affairs for the program.

Robinson’s regular gig for the NewsHour is a labor of love not only for broadcast news but also for the particular kind of journalism that is practiced at the NewsHour, a pioneer in the field of comprehensive television news. The show debuted after Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer joined forces as journalists covering Watergate. The MacNeil/Lehrer Report that grew from their work was the first substantive news hour of its kind in the United States.

“Jim Lehrer stands for a great deal of integrity in this business,” Robinson says, “and he’s very committed to producing a news cast that doesn’t trivialize or sensationalize or pander to the taste of the moment.”

In 1978, Robinson deliberately pursued and successfully landed a job with the MacNeil/Lehrer Report, after she had watched and admired the show as a graduate student.

“What they were doing in the 1970s was the only comprehensive attempt by any form of broadcast media to look at the issues of the day. After I finished my master’s degree, I came looking to get a job with them,” she says. “It was two guys who had the idea of doing journalism their way.”

The NewsHour staff has grown substantially since then — doubling, actually — but it is still nowhere near the size of other network and cable news programs. A core of devoted staff has been with the program since the early days.

“It’s very abnormal to have spent 20-plus years working for one broadcast organization, and I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t have the utmost respect for what the NewsHour does,” she says. Robinson recalls discovering her interest in TV journalism while still in high school, after earning a University of Kansas fellowship that focused on radio and television. At the time, she was editor of the school newspaper, but through the fellowship she “got the bug” for television.

“It sounds so weird, but I always knew I would end up in television,” she reflects. “Once I started to deal with the electronic media, I was a goner.”

A student at Beloit before the journalism minor was offered, Robinson stayed true to her interests by majoring in international relations, working for Beloit Cable Access Television, and serving as station manager for WBCR, the College radio station. Today, despite a hectic schedule, she returns to campus several times a year as part of her service on Beloit’s board of trustees.

When Jim Lehrer delivered Beloit’s Commencement speech last year, he paid Robinson a striking compliment.

“If Peggy is any measure of the quality of graduates that come from Beloit College,” he told graduates, “You, the class of 2004, are all winners. Brilliant in mind, excited in spirit, with great futures and lives ahead of you.”

That day, Lehrer added with a smile that applications for employment on the NewsHour would be available at the end of the ceremony.

A View from the Hosting Party Rather than protestors, the Republican National Committee could have faced a series of devastating hurricanes, had their key event been held in Tampa or New Orleans — the two runner-up cities for the 2004 national convention. Lisa Helfert As a member of the Republican National Committee’s leadership, Dean Armandroff’84 helped host the first Republican convention ever held in New York City. Dean Armandroff’84 points this out on the eve of the GOP’s opening night in the Big Apple, as a different kind of energy built, with the party faithful and determined demonstrators converging for the first time in New York. Armandroff was taking a rare break to talk with Beloit College Magazine about his role as chief of staff for the Republican National Committee’s Office of the Co -Chair. His position not only cast him as one of the hosts of the convention, but also thrusts him daily into the midst of national politics. And there’s no place he’d rather be. “One of the things I like about working for the RNC as opposed to consulting, or working at the state level with the party, is that you have the full national perspective,” says Armandroff. As part of the RNC leadership, Armandroff’s office administers the programs and activities of CO-Chair Ann Wagner. It’s different from Armandroff’s previous jobs, which were more campaign-driven. His office is involved in things like managing Wagner’s busy schedule of speaking engagements and helping raise awareness of major initiatives as she travels around the country on behalf of Republican candidates, raising money and grassroots support. Though Armandroff does not count himself among RNC staffers who focus solely on orchestrating conventions, he has been involved in four prior to 2004, each time in a different capacity. His first, in 1988, was as an aide to New Jersey Governor Tom Kean, who delivered the convention’s keynote speech that year. Four years later, he served as a New Jersey delegation aide, writing a newsletter for fellow delegates and keeping people informed, among other things. In 1996, Armandroff was in San Diego with the Dole campaign as regional political director for the Northeastern states. When the convention wrapped up, the Dole campaign was in a dead heat with Clinton. “It was the political peak of that campaign, and it was great to have been there,” he says. In 2000, Armandroff completely switched gears and worked for broadcast TV and cable giant Comcast Corporation on its live coverage of the Republican convention. He served as senior political producer and helped script the show, book top Republican guests, and coordinate floor coverage. For the Republican National Committee, which he re-joined in 2001, he has many responsibilities beyond the convention, but he was involved in planning for the 2004 event, including staffing the site selection committee and helping to choose the convention location. “This time, I’m part of the RNC team putting on the convention, so I’m staying in the main RNC hotel and being part of that whole operation,” says Armandroff, who set up shop in New York two weeks before the event. One sign of the revved-up pace of things came when Armandroff tried to squeeze in an hour at the hotel gym. He was foiled, as colleagues swept him up in a project as he tried to make his way down a hallway. “It’s amazing how much we’re responsible for,” he said breathlessly. Armandroff started working on the 2004 convention in 2002, by visiting potential host cities. The choice of city is a complicated one, influenced by a mixture of tangible and intangible factors, he explains. The party considers things like the potential to raise money in the location, the party commitment from local and elected officials, and whether enough hotel rooms and the right size arena are available. In the end, the business deal or package they’re able to negotiate is critical. “New York put together the best business deal, had the best options for hotels and facilities, and had a great transportation plan,” he says, adding that the downside was the sticker shock that came with many of the incidental costs. But the Republican Party wanted to come to New York. “One idea is to go to a targeted state, like Ronald Reagan did in Michigan in 1980, because it was a symbol of the Rust Belt,” he says. “Another rule of thumb is to try to be on offense, so by holding the convention in a hotbed of support for the other party, and placing it in the media capital, you can really raise your profile.” Armandroff also recalls the eloquent plea New York’s mayor and governor made two years ago, as the city took a major economic hit after 9/11. “We also felt that New York needed the help, and holding the convention here is a way of saying, ‘New York is still a number-one city. It’s still a city that makes news, where things happen, and it’s not going to be relegated to the back benches.’” In discussing the purpose of conventions, Armandroff says that people still fantasize that elections will be won there directly, but he believes that’s highly unlikely. Instead, he views them as communication events, a chance to get a message out and tell people who you are, while offering opportunities for training and building enthusiasm when everyone is together at a crucial time. “It’s like a giant high school reunion for people who are really into politics,” Armandroff says. “Everyone leaves in a very positive, upbeat way, and they have their marching orders. We do a lot of training and rally people about what they need to do for the next eight weeks.” While both parties held very traditional conventions in 2004, Armandroff observes that changes may be on the way. “I wouldn’t be surprised if future conventions are shorter and maybe held only in prime time,” he explains. “The production has already changed in the sense that you have a lot of remote speeches and appearances. It’s already more of a TV show than it is an event, and I think we’ll see more of that in the future. Society is changing, and when you have a fixed event, it is sort of an antiquated concept. But we’re having fun with it, and right now, it’s what our constituents want.” At press time, the outcome of the 2004 presidential race was unknown, but no matter who is in the White House come January, Armandroff can count on one thing: uncertainty regarding his future career path. It all comes with the territory for someone who grew up knowing he wanted to work in politics and whose résumé at 26 was three pages long. “Our jobs are very much built around an election cycle,” he says. “We build everything up — money, energy — and then we spend it all down. The guiding principle in our field is that you make your life commitments in two or four-year bites. So, I’m not sure what the future holds.” – Susan Kasten

Up Close and In Person

Two Students Get a Bird’s Eye View of Conventions

Two Beloit students were swept up in the 2004 national political conventions, as they joined the staff of the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer during the program’s gavel-to-gavel coverage for public television.

Greg Anderson

Melissa Smith’06 (left) and Tess Gruenstein’06 after they returned from their first national political conventions.

Attending the conventions marked a first for Melissa Smith’06, a political science major/journalism minor, and Tess Gruenstein’06, a double major in political science and economics. Both women say they expect politics to be a defining feature of their lives.

During the Democrats’ event in Boston, Smith, a junior from Mahomet, Ill., worked on the news desk. For the Republican convention in New York, she was joined by Gruenstein, a junior from Anchorage, Alaska, who served as a helper to Jim Lehrer’s assistant.

The opportunity came when senior producer of the NewsHour Peggy Robinson’74 contacted Professor of Political Science Georgia Duerst-Lahti, looking for students who would fit the bill. In all, the NewsHour put nine D.A.s or “desk assistants” specifically on the task of helping during the conventions, starting them the week prior and continuing during the events.

When Smith, a soccer player, first heard of the chance to participate, she was a little concerned about missing pre-season practice and the first few days of classes. But her interests in politics and the media made her realize the conventions were “bigger than that.”

While she was not totally surprised by what she witnessed there — having discussed the political conventions in class — she was a little shocked to see “just how down-to-the-minute they are scripted.”

Both Smith and Gruenstein did their share of grunt work the week before the conventions. In New York, both helped in setting up the NewsHour office, green room, and studio with equipment and supplies, while running around the city buying needed items.

Once events convened, their work changed, and the days grew longer — stretching from about 9 a.m. until midnight.

Smith’s job in the newsroom included keeping an eye on the wire for breaking news, and updating, coordinating, and distributing successive drafts of scripts, as they evolved throughout the day. Keeping everything in order and on time was “this weird little art you had to master,” says Smith, who had interned at a television station the previous summer. Earlier this summer, she held an internship on Capitol Hill, where she hopes to return after graduation.

For her part, Gruenstein worked more on the administrative end of things, helping Lehrer’s assistant with all sorts of details. Evenings, her post was in Madison Square Garden, where she helped direct Lehrer’s guests to and from the skybox.

One night she spotted filmmaker Michael Moore at a neighboring skybox, while Republican strategist Karl Rove waited to do an interview with the NewsHour. She watched as the political adversaries nearly ran into each other by accident. “It was a funny moment,” she says.

Both students saw their share of VIPs, and Smith points out that it’s an indication of her “political nerdiness” that she was just as excited to see political types like James Carville and Robert Novak at the Democratic convention as she was movie stars Ben Affleck and John Cusack.

A high point for Smith was seeing Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Former President Bill Clinton address the crowd in Boston as she sat in a coveted seat on the delegate floor.

Because of a recent class with Prof. Duerst-Lahti on U.S. media and politics, Gruenstein had developed an interest in press coverage and its effect on public opinion. “It really helped to see the convention, and then watch the coverage to see how it was presented to viewers,” Gruenstein says. “The NewsHour had a very different dynamic than CNN, which was kind of coming in and out. Our coverage was gavel-to-gavel, so we showed what happened, gave the analysis, and then moved to what was happening next.”

Although her post-Beloit plans are indefinite, Gruenstein may follow in the footsteps of her father, Peter Gruenstein’69, who practices law in Anchorage. But no matter what the future holds, she plans to be involved in politics in some way.

While in New York, both students had the chance to hear Jim Lehrer in person, as he addressed NewsHour staff, the day before the convention began. Stressing the importance of the 2004 election, he talked about how their work would help set the stage for people to make decisions.

“It was excellent to be with a very respected news organization and to get to see the conventions from that perspective,” says Smith, whose long-term plans include studying political management in graduate school. “Jim Lehrer was very nice, and he was happy to have more Beloit people on board.”

RELATED LINKS:

Rattle and Hum: Beloit and the Republican Convention in New York

Beloit Celebrates Commencement (Beloit College Magazine, Summer 2004)

Beloit College Commencement Address by Jim Lehrer (Beloit College Magazine, Summer 2004)

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Susan Kasten - Editor, Beloit College Magazine