APPC News

Kathleen Hall Jamieson Discusses Media Coverage of Race on NewsHour

sstranahan@appc — Thu, 08 May 2008 17:07:00 GMT

Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center and an expert on political rhetoric, spoke about the media's handling of race in the 2008 presidential campaign in an appearance last night (May 7) on The NewsHour.

"If you look at the words that are being used, you see words that are largely undefined," Jamieson told the NewsHour's Jeffrey Brown. "And, as a result, a lot of people are having to build in their own assumptions about what's meant."

"So, for example, `If you ask, what is meant when people say that Senator Obama has a post-racial candidacy, or that the Reverend Wright controversy burst the post-racial bubble?' I don't know what that means. What does it mean when somebody says that someone is playing the gender card or the race card?

"And those who think they know might want to go back and look at all the times that that is a positive concept and all the times that it's a negative concept and ask what those things have in common.

"We have, as a result, words that are being used without being defined, and, as a result, context isn't being illuminated. We're simplifying. And another of those is `the race issue.'"

A transcript of the NewsHour segment is available here: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/jan-june08/race_05-07.html

Student Voices Web site rated "A+" by Education World

nirenberg@appc — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:14:00 GMT

In an April 2008 review, Education World, Inc., a company devoted to helping make the Internet easier for teachers to incorporate into classroom learning, rated the Student Voices Web site "A+", the highest such ranking given by the organization. Read the review.

The Student Voices Web site provides news and resources on national and local government and elections and allows students to engage in online discussions on policy issues and elections, as well as youth-focused issues. Student Voices is a non-partisan civic education program designed to improve the dialogue of democracy among our nation's young people and encourage their civic engagement. Student Voices, created in 1999 by the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania, provides high school teachers with a unique and proven civics curriculum and interactive Web sites to use in the classroom. Working with teachers around the country, Student Voices helps young people learn about and discuss elections and local and national policy issues, and it connects them with government and community leaders.

Student Voices was also recently named a Keystone Program of The Pennsylvania Coalition for Representative Democracy (PennCORD), a coalition of state and national organizations committed to implementing civics education in classrooms and after-school programs in every Pennsylvania community. Read more.

For more information on Student Voices, contact Ron Nirenberg.

Bridge to be repaired: Another success for Canon McMillan Student Voices participants!

nirenberg@appc — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 14:35:00 GMT

Student Voices students and alumni from western Pennsylvania have more to be proud of today, as their project continues to get attention (and now, funding) from the legislature!

Students, school faculty and staff and residents from around the Canon McMillan community will be in the audience tonight as PennDOT displays its plans for repairs to the bridge over Interstate 79 in North Strabane Township. It was the Student Voices classes of Canon McMillan High School in 2006 who successfully lobbied the state legislature to name the structure Canon McMillan Alumni Bridge.

They were led by their history teacher, Tom Olszewski. After considering which issues they were most concerned about, their attention turned to a bridge with no name that stood just off of school grounds and was in need of repair. It was their idea to bring attention to the structure and have it named in honor of the alumni of their school, one of whom is State Rep. Tim Solobay. Canon McMillan High School sits on the southwestern end of the bridge.

Now the student “bridge-keepers” have been cheered by news that PennDOT is about to give the span the face-lift it has needed.

Rick Bell, Canon McMillan’s social studies department chair and actively involved with Student Voices, was quick to praise the efforts of those students and teachers, APPC and the Student Voices project. “Tom and I are extremely proud of the students from Canon McMillan responsible for this,” he said. “We believe this shows that students’ voices really can be heard.”

PennDOT currently is developing final design plans for rehabilitation of the bridge that carries State Route 1025 over Interstate 79 in Washington County. Work is expected to get underway sometime this summer.

In 2006, the Canon McMillan Alumni bridge renaming project was undertaken by social studies classes that participate in the school’s Student Voices program, organized by Bell. As part of their efforts, students launched a letter-writing campaign seeking the name change. State Rep. Solobay sponsored the bill while lauding the students for their work: “When these kids are older, every time they drive over the bridge and see the signs, they will remember the role they played in getting it named,” he said when the renaming legislation unanimously passed the House.

PennDOT plans to replace the deck of the bridge as well as to repaint the steel superstructure. One plan under consideration is to paint the bridge the Canon McMillan school colors of blue and gold, according to Valerie Petersen of PennDOT. That will be a fitting reminder for future classes of Canon McMillan of just what can be accomplished when pen meets paper and students speak out!

Links:

http://www.pahouse.com/prarchive/bridgename3.048.asp

http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/washington/1571887/detail.html

"Unrealistic fatalism" study discussed on local "Morning Edition" broadcast

sstranahan@appc — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 17:04:00 GMT

The belief among many U.S. youth that they will die before age 30 and the consequences of such "unrealistic fatalism" was discussed today by Dr. Dan Gottlieb during "Morning Edition" on WHYY. Gottlieb, host of "Voices in the Family" on WHYY, cited the study, published last month in the Journal of Adolescent Health. Co-authors are Patrick E. Jamieson and Dan Romer of APPC's Adolescent Risk Communication Institute.

Gottlieb noted that youth who do exhibit signs of "unrealistic fatalism" often are those least likely to have community support systems in place to offer guidance or mental health care. He quoted data from the survey that showed young people aged 14 to 22 often dropped out of school and lost contact with social networks that might provide counseling.

Listen to the podcast here http://www.whyy.org/news/gottlieb.html

Kathleen Hall Jamieson Returns to Moyers Journal Tonight

sstranahan@appc — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 17:14:00 GMT

In the aftermath of Super Tuesday and the shake-up in the Republican contest, Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, will join Bill Moyers again tonight to talk about the 2008 presidential campaign. Jamieson, a regular guest of Moyers during the election season, will discuss how well the candidates are delivering their messages and how the public is perceiving them. For additional program information, click here http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/02082008/profile.html

Kathleen Hall Jamieson Returns to Bill Moyers Journal Tonight

sstranahan@appc — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 15:04:00 GMT

Annenberg Public Policy Center Director Kathleen Hall Jamieson makes a return visit to Bill Moyers Journal tonight on PBS to discuss the busy week in the 2008 presidential campaign.

Viewers of the program also have been invited to submit questions for Jamieson on the election. Visit the site at http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/02012008/profile2.html

During this election cycle, Jamieson has been a frequent guest of Moyers to talk about politics, perceptions and how the candidates' messages are being delivered.

The Hits Just Keep on Coming!

sstranahan@appc — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 15:39:00 GMT

FactCheck.org yesterday recorded its best day so far in terms of unique visits -- 82,000 -- a figure undoubtedly driven by the Florida primary, the State of the Union address and a tightening of the Democratic and Republican primary contests. Traffic to the site for January will easily exceed 1.5 million, a big jump from December's 874,000, according to FactCheck director Brooks Jackson.

And this doesn't even count readership on Newsweek.com, which re-posts FactCheck articles on its own site.

See here: http://www.newsweek.com/id/106098 and here: http://www.newsweek.com/id/105959

Nor does it measure response to a lengthy profile of FactCheck aired yesterday by Los Angeles station KCAL-TV. Watch here: http://cbs2.com/politics/factcheck.politics.ads.2.640188.html

FactCheck's subscriber base also is growing. An email alert of a new article, sent Jan. 3, went out to 65,674 readers; last night's email alert was sent to 67,136 readers.

Daily Pennsylvanian Profiles FactCheck

sstranahan@appc — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:54:00 GMT

The University of Pennsylvania's Daily Pennsylvanian today profiles the Annenberg Public Policy Center's FactCheck.org.

In the interview, FactCheck's Brooks Jackson says the candidates are just getting warmed up in terms of misleading statements. "What you've seen so far is nothing," Jackson told DP senior writer Anne Dobson. After Super Tuesday on Feb. 5, the real mud will start flying.

"Candidates are not holding public policy seminars," said Jackson. "They are trying to persuade the voters by arguing as a lawyer would argue before a jury. They're giving you at best one side of the story and at worse a made up story."

And that's where the accuracy sleuths at FactCheck come in. Rapidly sifting through claims and counterclaims, the FactCheck team lays out "facts that sometimes some of the candidates find inconvenient," according to Jackson. "We probably get in the way of convincing everybody that they're absolutely right and their opponents are absolutely wrong."

Read the Daily Pennsylvanian article here:

http://lamp.dailypennsylvanian.com/storyFeatures/jan-29/factcheckperspect/index.html

Three Students, One Project and Harrisburg Perks Up Its Ears

sstranahan@appc — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 16:46:00 GMT

A prize-winning Student Voices project has caught the ear of two Pennsylvania lawmakers who now are pushing for hearings on a proposal to let 17-year-olds vote in the state's primary elections if they will be 18 (and eligible to vote) before the November general election.

"In the very beginning, it was just a civics-fair entry," said Doug Weisband, one of three students from Fox Chapel Area High School, near Pittsburgh, who created the project. "Day by day, it got more real."

Weisband, and classmates Julia Hazlet and Kevin Pflumm, saw their project take top honors in the fourth annual Greater Pittsburgh Student Voices civics fair. But that was just the start. They then took their idea to State Rep. Frank Dermody (D., Allegheny), who in conjunction with Rep. Richard T. Grucela (D., Northampton), is considering holding hearings on the idea.

Nine states already allow the practice.

For more information, see this Associated Press story:

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/pa/20080122_Pa__lawmakers_push_to_give_primary_vote_to_17-year-olds.html

FactCheck in Action!

glgehman — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 21:30:00 GMT

FactCheck.org, the Annenberg Public Policy Center’s popular and oft-quoted political truth squad, launched a new video report today, hosted by FactCheck reporter Emi Kolawole. New reports will be posted each Friday morning. Find out more on the Annenberg Public Policy Center's website by clicking here.

In other FactCheck news, be sure to catch Brooks Jackson's appearance on PBS tonight (1/25/2008) as he brings his particular insights to the Bill Moyers' Journal program. Check your local PBS listings for time and channel.