Eleanor
Clift
Contributing
editor, Newsweek
Annotate each
candidate's speech. Tell the reader what's real and what's rhetoric, what
came from a focus group and what came from the candidate's own experience.
Identify code words. What promises will hold up? Which ones are made to be
broken?
Matthew
Cooper
Washington
correspondent, Time
Get off the
plane. You can't ignore the road show, but a good question to ask is, 'If
I'm standing around with fifty reporters, do I really need to be here?' Almost
always the answer is no.
E.J.
Dionne
Columnist,
Washington Post
Do investigative
reporting of ideas. Take what politicians say and do in the public arena as
seriously as we take what we presume to be hidden. Examine the underlying
implications of their ideas and proposals, and how things they say at election
time square with what they've done in the past.
Elizabeth
Drew
Author
Make it clear
polls are an ephemeral phenomenon, and very shaky as predictors. Excessive
emphasis on polls actually un-informs the public. For example, it was clear
early on that Bill Bradley could be an effective anti-Gore, but when he pulled
virtually dead even with Gore in New Hampshire in early September, it was
treated as a surprise.
James
Fallows
Writer
Have the best
reporters play historian. Imagine themselves as a famous historian of 2050,
and answer this question: Based on what we know now, what is likely to be
interesting or important about this election fifty years from now?
Gwen
Ifill
Senior correspondent,
NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
Resist the
urge to make up a story to relieve boredom. Politics often unfolds in a fascinating
and dramatic way, but sometimes it doesn't do that right away. In the meantime,
we can't let Donald Trump and Warren Beatty tell us what the news is. Use
news smarts. Don't be afraid to ask someone pursing a fantasy: "Are you joking?"
Peter
Prichard
President,
Freedom Forum
Give candidates
a few minutes on each evening newscast to deliver an unedited message. They
could be organized around issues or be free-form. In an era of fifteen-second
sound bites, letting candidates talk a little longer would serve the public
well.
Jay
Rosen
Journalism
professor
Redefine horse
race to include the struggle beyond poll rankings and votes. The money race.
The idea race. The interactivity race (who's ahead in the drive to make campaigning
genuinely interactive?) The race to learn more about the country they want
to lead. Give candidates grades on all these races. Publish charts and graphs
that show what's happening.
Hedrick
Smith
Author
Print detailed
issue positions -- I'm talking an entire page -- on issues people have said
are important. Do it every week of the campaign. This notion that issues covered
once have been covered is nonsense.
Judy
Woodruff
Senior anchor,
CNN
