Reporters Discuss Tense Political World

As the Harvard Political Review's (HPR) 30th anniversary issue suggests that the American people are "burned out" on politics, its anniversary conference on political journalism this weekend discussed ways to rekindle the blaze.

The two-day conference kicked off with a Friday night dinner and keynote address delivered by Richard L. Berke, national political correspondent for The New York Times.

Berke, who was a fellow at the IOP in the fall of 1997 and recently joined its senior advisory committee, regaled conference-goers with tales of reporting from the White House.

When The Times was scheduled to run Berke's story saying President Clinton thought Gore's campaign needed improvement--attributed to anonymous sources--Berke called the White House to let them know about the piece in advance. He told the official he spoke with that if the President was concerned about the story, he should call The Times.

"I was kind of just kidding," Berke said.

But before the article went to print, Berke picked up the phone at his desk and found the President on the other end of the line.

In the ensuing conversation, President Clinton confirmed much of Berke's information--and told the reporter that he felt Gore had already begun to improve his campaign strategy.

Berke offered some political analysis of his own in his speech, saying he was surprised by developments in the 2000 presidential race. If he had been asked a year ago, Berke said, he would have guessed that Vice President Al Gore '69 would have scared off most of his Democratic challengers, and the GOP side of the race would be wide open.

Instead, Bill Bradley has emerged as a viable Democratic alternative, and

Republicans are experiencing what Berke dubbed "the potency of the George Bush juggernaut."

"It's dangerous for a journalist to make any assumptions," Berke said.

Berke also concluded that the recent debates in Hanover, N.H. between the two top Democratic contenders ended with no clear winner.

"[Gore] really looks like a new candidate...[but] he looked like he was trying too hard," he said, while Bradley appeared "aloof" but more confident.

As for top Republican candidate George W. Bush, Berke said the Texas governor's well-publicized poor performance on a reporter's foreign policy quiz may have hurt him.

"It contributes to the image that he doesn't have the brain," Berke said.

Bush's most important success, he said, is his ability to connect with people.

"McCain is appealing too--except when he yells and screams at people," said Berke, who wrote a story about McCain's temper.

In response to audience questions, Berke also expressed concern about the number of candidates dropping out early.

One audience member asked Berke if he had ever done something he regretted as a reporter.

"I like to write [the stories], but I don't like to get people in trouble. But that's kind of my job," Berke said. "It's not a personal thing."

Saturday's portion of the conference featured informal discussion groups, workshops and two panel discussions.

An assembly of big names, many of

them Harvard alumni, gave the anniversary conference an insider's look at the world of political reporting.

Walter S. Isaacson '74, managing editor of Time magazine, gave a discussion group a recent example of collaboration among top news outlets.

Just before he arrived at the breakout discussion titled "Breaking Gossip: Matt Drudge and the Monica Lewinsky Scoop," he was logged on to his America On-Line account in the process of finalizing this week's Time cover story.

While Isaacson was online, Drudge--who has the Time editor on his "buddy list"--sent him an instant message asking for a news tip to put up on his Web site.

"He uses me, and I use him," Isaacson said.

The issues of the day centered mainly around the future of journalism with regard to the Internet and the way in which the press plans to tackle Election 2000.

George magazine's Senior Editor Matthew A. Saal '87 said the power of the Internet--and of Internet stars like Matt Drudge--manifests itself in the fact that "no longer can an elite group of Washington editors decide what's a story."

But Mark E. Halperin '87, political director of ABC News, said presidential politics is still all about television.

In addition to their policy talk, there was also ample opportunity for the featured journalists to offer advice and tell their own stories in an informal setting.

George magazine's new Executive Editor Richard P. Blow told conference- goers about dropping out of graduate school at Harvard after three years. He called it one of the best decisions he'd ever made.

"Grad school is a very long conversation with a very small group of people," he said. "[Political journalism] is much more fun--and that's not unimportant."

Over lunch, HPR staffer Nicole B. Usher '03 chatted with Isaacson about how to obtain a successful career in political journalism.

"He told me that you can have all these big internships but what really matters is your writing," Usher said. "He said, 'If you write for your local newspaper and can make a city council election sound interesting then I'll hire you.'"

John D. Couriel '00, the editor-in-chief of HPR, said overall the conference far exceeded his expectations.

"We've had some serious discussion, but we've also had a lot of fun," Couriel said. "What makes this conference different than all the million other things going on at Harvard is that the HPR is dedicated to the idea that every cause is worth talking about."