On the Button
J-school students and alumni are on the campaign trail covering South Carolina's presidential primaries.

by Charles Bierbauer

They are everywhere on the campaign trail. Not the candidates. They come and go. No, it’s our alumni and students in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications who seem to be everywhere covering the 2008 presidential campaign.

Aaron Gould Sheinin, political reporter at The State and now the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Caroline Love at WACH Fox. Justin Chapura at The State. Nick Needham at WLTX. And the others, many still students, who are earning their stripes on the political battlefield of South Carolina during this presidential primary season.

The 2008 elections have created an unparalleled laboratory for our journalism students. Since last spring, there have been debates on campus here in Columbia, at South Carolina State, The Citadel and in Myrtle Beach. Students have been covering the races for professional print and broadcast media, for campus media, for the school’s capstone Carolina News and Carolina Reporter programs, and working or interning for the parties and candidates’ campaigns.

In their own words:
Covering the Candidates

Our advertising, public relations and visual communications students are out there, too, seeing how campaigns get their messages across.

As Nick Needham notes, every four years—at least once in every student’s college career—South Carolina is the place to be for an up-close look at politics.

Covering politics is challenging. I did it for 20 years at CNN. It’s invigorating. After all, it’s a building block of American democracy. It’s also fatiguing, an especially long haul this cycle. And at times, it can be a dirty and dispiriting business. All the more reason for thorough scrutiny by the media. And what a great teaching opportunity. I plan another session of my Media & Politics course this Maymester. I’m keeping my hand in by writing political analysis for SCHotline.com. To be honest, covering politics can also be fun, even while it is a serious business with high stakes for the nation.

The students and alumni you’ll meet here are discovering that. Listen to what they have to say. They’re learning that there is a lot of give and take in the process. They’ve discovered that the star struck moment passes and then they’ve got to get down to business. They’ve got the tools to question a candidate, even one who is going to be the next president of the United States.

Watch for their bylines in this campaign and in the future.

* At the time of this interview, Aaron Gould Sheinin was at The State. He is now at the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
** At the time of this interview, Jackie Faye Burton was with WIS-TV. She is now at KSBI-TV in Oklahoma City, Okla.

Sarah Chakales spent several months interviewing current J-school students and alumni about their experiences on the campaign trail and produced this montage based on each journalist's response to seven questions.

A December J-school graduate from Richmond, Va., Sarah will spend next year studying journalism in Hong Kong on a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship.

Charles Bierbauer is the Dean of the College of Mass Communications and Information Studies. He is a former CNN political correspondent and currently is a consultant and senior contributing editor for SCHotline.com.