The power of the press

So this isn’t really city-hall related, but I thought I’d throw it in here anyway since it does have to do with politics.

Making my way to class last night (I’m a masters student at USC) I noticed a large crowd had gathered inside the Annenberg school, where all my class are.
Turns out, Dan Rather — former CBS Evening News anchor — was hosting his HDNet show Dan Rather Reports from inside Annenberg’s lobby. It was a four-hour live broadcast all about the elections.

I spent about 30 minutes before class, 10 minutes during my break and another 20 minutes after class watching the broadcast from the second floor.
Aside from all the glitz and glam associated with a live broadcast — makeup, perfect lighting and about a thousand assistants making sure there were no slip-ups — the most interesting thing I discovered Tuesday night was the power of the press.
Students who were not even associated with Annenberg’s communications and journalism programs were lining up to a get glimpse of the anchor legend.
Even if they weren’t too familiar with the elections, the candidates and the voting process — and even if they normally wouldn’t have cared — they stood gazing, almost mesmerized, by Rather and his roundtable of expert guests.

And while the live broadcast isn’t going to change their lives or drastically shift their news-gathering habits, most of the students walked away with a new tidbit of information.
Just goes to show you what the press can do to people — like maybe teaching them a little something they didn’t know before, even if it wasn't intended.