[box sid=”box-qa” width=”475px;” style=”background-color:#99cccc; margin:10px;” align=”left”]On the faculty of Baruch College since 1986, David Birdsell is dean of the Baruch College School of Public Affairs. His academic work centers on the nexus of communication, media, and information technology in politics, government, and nonprofit administration. But he is most widely known as an expert and guest commentator on political debating for local, national, and international television and print media. During the fall 2012 presidential election season, Birdsell shared his expertise as moderator of Baruch College’s extensive and popular coverage of the three 2012 presidential debates and vice presidential debate with live, large-screen viewings followed by group discussion.
Below Dean Birdsell goes beyond the particular to speak about his role as a commentator across communication platforms and across election cycles. [/box]
BCAM: How do media requests and appearance come together?
DB: There’s no one way that news organizations reach out to sources. Sometimes a reporter will make a call, and that’s more common if I already know the reporter well. That’s almost always true for print media in any case and for smaller television or radio outlets. Network television typically has a producer make the initial contact and set up the interview.
If the news team comes to me, they set up in my office or call me outside, and we talk for anywhere from five to 20 minutes. If I’m to go to the studio instead, I get there early, often run through the questions with the producer, get made up (though most local and some national media have dispensed with makeup for occasional guests), and wait to go on set. Then the reporter comes to the interview couch, the cameras dolly over, and we’re doing live television.
Do you remember the first time you were interviewed?
I did an interview on debates long before I’d written about the topic. I was director of debate at the University of Virginia and did an in-studio interview for what was then Charlottesville’s only local television station. I was 22 and don’t remember a great deal about that broadcast except that it was my first experience with live television.
Following the 1988 release of Presidential Debates: The Challenge of Creating an Informed Electorate [Birdsell’s book with Kathleen Hall Jamieson], my first interview was with CNN, which at the time had a large New York studio on Eighth Avenue. I didn’t know where to go or how to sit or whom to look at but learned very quickly that getting called back means moving deftly back and forth across the clutter of the studio floor, not demanding attention off camera, and never questioning the to-the-second tyranny of the clock. And occasionally saying something smart.
How many times have you been interviewed since?
I’ve done hundreds and hundreds of interviews; I stopped keeping count a long time ago. Like anything else done frequently, interviews get easier with repetition. Sets are less alien, you get used to talking to cameras with no one behind them, you know what kinds of analysis work, and at what length. Ideally, you learn how to be both pithy and incisive. TV requires concision, and reporters need to be able to get into and out of an interview quickly. My job is to help the journalist while offering an insight that derives from my academic work and respects the contours of the medium in which it will appear.
How has the job of the media expert changed over the years?
The biggest changes are the much wider range of media outlets, mobile media, and the compression of the news cycle.
When I started in 1988, CNN was only eight years old, there was no MSNBC or Fox News, the three broadcast networks still dominated TV news, and that handful of outlets had all of the television advertising revenue there was to be had. Some of it was spent on news divisions, and there were green rooms with fresh fruit and makeup artists and junior producers who were actually assigned to guests. The news cycle took a full 24 hours to unfold, and there were often several hours between an event and the first round of commentary.
It’s a very different situation today. News division budgets are a small fraction of what they were 30 years ago. Interview teams in the field used to arrive with at least four people: a cameraman, a lighting grip, a producer, and the reporter. Today, having both a reporter and someone to run the camera counts as a luxury. In the studio, green rooms—if there is a green room—have a couch and maybe a television and that’s about it. Makeup rooms for guests—and often for talent!—are few and far between. The development of online and mobile media has shortened the period between an event and commentary to less than zero; the commentary often starts before the event is even over.
The expert’s job now is to think quickly, to think across platforms (e.g., print, radio, TV, web, Twitter, etc.), and to be flexible while trying to convey the insights.
Could you share a favorite anecdote related to one of these appearances?
I did a panel discussion on debates on Charlie Rose in 1992. Among others on that panel was Rush Limbaugh, and in the green room for another program was Felix Rohatyn. This was while Rohatyn was managing partner at Lazard Frères and before he became U.S. ambassador to France. Rush was getting made up and braying about his ability to pick stocks. He came out of the makeup room, poked Mr. Rohatyn in the ribs and asked if he wanted a good stock tip. Mr. Rohatyn said, “I am always interested in sound financial advice.” Rush clearly had no idea that he was talking down to one of the great financial minds of the 20th century.
Who’s the most interesting person you’ve met in a “green room”?
That’s hard to say. It was a real treat to meet Felix Rohatyn, Calvin Trillin, John Malkovich, Molly O’Neill, and many others. Green rooms aren’t the best place for conversation though. Almost everyone is busy thinking about what they’re about to say on camera; they’re not looking to make small talk.
What’s your favorite gig and why?
The Charlie Rose programs, which I’ve done three times, are great. They’re as close to a salon as television gets, and the guests are sparkling. I have many friends in local news whom I respect enormously. As a group, they’re smart, dedicated, and tell the best stories that they have the resources and the time to tell. It’s a privilege to work with them. And I’ll always have a soft spot for NY1, which shows us how good local cable news can be.
How does your role as a media expert fit with your other roles as dean and professor?
I have always looked at media interviews as a chance to share an academic perspective on topics that might otherwise get only the “popular wisdom” treatment, which is often wrong. The trick is to place that perspective in the vernacular of modern television—or tweets, or blogs—and make sure that a nonacademic audience stays around to get the insight.
Being a dean makes it harder to do this work because I have so much less time to make myself available for interviews. I do, though, get the opportunity to hand off interviews to my talented faculty, and they do at least as good a job as I would have.
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