A number of DU students participated in the Democratic National Convention held in Denver in August, the second Democratic Party convention in 100 years in the Mile High City.
Last Wednesday, career counselor Ruth Prochnow and political science professor Seth Maskit hosted a discussion about the experience that students had at the convention.
“I wanted to get a sense of what types of jobs and the experiences [students] had during the convention,” said Maskit, who also was a Colorado delegate at the convention.
CBS also employed 22 DU students and BBC had some help from political science and broadcast journalism majors.
Students shared their stories and had a chance to listen to the celebrity run-ins and protestor conflicts.
They highlighted their experience by applauding Prochnow read an e-mail from two network internship coordinators who wrote that this was the most hardworking group of interns they had ever employed at a convention.
“It was a great opportunity and I am so glad that many of us could participate,” said Maskit. “I was working with all five major news stations,” said alumna Emily Pierce. “CNN, CBS, NBC, ABC and FOX all had me working at the pool.”
At the Pepsi Center, FOX handled the “feed” that supplied audio and video to the three networks and cable channels.
Pierce worked for about five weeks for the pool and also handled every daily media pass that was distributed to some 2,000 reporters and convention workers.
Junior Gordon Lobel had the chance to work with executive producers and Washington Center interns from all over the country.
“[At CNN], I was literally running speeches from the CNN Grill to the Skybox and then to the floor,” said Lobel. “It’s funny, but Anderson Cooper is really a lot shorter than Wolf [Blitzer].”
Maskit said that what appeared on prime time television was tightly written and controlled.
“I have never seen an event so scripted,” he said. “There were whips that would give out signs to hold right before the speakers and everything was right on time.”
Those attending last Wednesday’s talk agreed that not everything went smoothly, especially behind the scenes.
“The trash in the parking lot started to leak into some of the wires, and the guys who were cleaning wanted to spray the concrete with bleach,” said Pierce. “It wasn’t even a ‘green convention;’ recycling was thrown together with trash.”
