Live from Politics and Pundits

American Forum

7:58 p.m.

Mark McDonald signs off.

7:57 p.m.

Lynch: Most of this campaign has been relatively civil. It seems people are disppointed it wasn't more contentious.

7:56 p.m.
Rosenstiel: "You want to see hostility toward media, come to my office." His staff monitors several news organizations everyday.

7:55 p.m.

Schieffer: "I couldn't get anything out of Emanuel on Face the Nation this week." (Laughter from audience.)

7:52 p.m.

Martinez: News organizations do what is cheapest, checking blogs and internet, for material.

McDonald: This will be addressed in next forum.

7:50 p.m.

Rosenstiel: The repackaging nature of 24 hour coverage has intensified horserace coverage.

7:48 p.m.

Question from audience: Do you regret focusing on attack issues like William Ayers and Bristol Palin?

Schieffer: You had John McCain trying to make these the issues. But they didn't stick. You have to report what they say. It spoke for itself...people were more concerned about the economy.

The Ombudsmen will always think coverage is tilted.
But the number one thing people want to know about the election and who is going to win.

7:46 p.m.

Martinez: Obama campaign is tapping into new media. He is able to communicate directly to his supporters. It is clear the Obama camp will continue to circumvent reporters, the middle men. The question is whether journalists will keep asking the tough questions.

7:43 p.m.

Schieffer: Couldn't get Rahm Emanuel to say on Face the Nation this week whether Obama will be out on Senate floor during the Lame Duck period. My impression is that he will not.

What will Obama's priorities be when he is sworn in?

7:40 p.m.

Question: How does media reestablish their reputation with politicians?

Rosenstiel: Journalists have to define what is truth. Politicians want to advance their agendas, not necessarily the truth. However, fact checking slows media organizations in the competitive breaking news market.

7:39 p.m.

Schieffer: On 9/11 we spent most of the day correcting incorrect material. Ignore competitor's mistakes.
It is the job of media to correct mistakes. "We do have to check this stuff out and it takes up a large part of our day. You can't ciculate this stuff."

7:38 p.m.

Lynch: Info from the Drudge Report is used on mainstream media.

7:37 p.m.

Question from audience: What role do the youth play? Do they support legitimate media?

Can't get away without talking about Tina Fey.

Tony Romm: 14 million people watched her appearance on SNL.
The image of her resonated with most Americans. SNL did frame the issue and the candidate. We can't stop them from looking at SNL to make their decisions.

Rosenstiel: I can't imagine people taking notes while watching The Daily Show.

7:31 p.m.

Schieffer: "I think you can go back and find a way to blame the media about everything."
Everything seems obvious in retrospect.

We could have asked harder questions and we didn't.

7:30 p.m.

Rosenstiel: Accusations of heavy intrusiveness into Palin's private life wasn't true. She received better coverage than Biden.

"She has a lot less to complain about than she's complaining about."

7:27 p.m.

Dotty Lynch: Sarah Palin played a bigger role than sexism.
References interview with Katie Couric. (Laughs from audience)Not being able to answer straighforward questions hurt Palin.

7:26 p.m.

From our videographer, Cate: if you are watching the live stream, reboot to get sound.

7:25 p.m.

Rosenstiel: This has pushed politicians further away from reporters.

7:23 p.m.

Schieffer: Remeber the internet is the only medium without an editor. "Stuff pops up on the web and you don't know where it comes from." Some sites follow standards and are credible, others don't.

Mainstream media and politicians have to deal with bloggers. References early rumors in the blogs on Palin.

"One thing we know for sure, nothing is off the record anymore."

7:21 p.m.

Martinez: Spanish websites cover the election from a different perspective.

7:21 p.m.

Tom Rosenstiel: This isn't the first internet campaign. Saw a greater intermingling of old and new media. When Sarah Palin came onto the scene, reporters hit the pavement to learn about her beyond the internet.

There are more blogs than reporters anymore.

7:14 p.m.

New technologies will have already changed the way journalists cover elections.

7:14 p.m.

Gebe Martinez: It's clear that bias didn't exist in media. Horserace coverage favored Obama so coverage seemed to tilt in his favor.

7:13 p.m.

Gebe Martinez: One of the undercovered issues during the campaign was immigration. But immigration drew many latinos to the polls.

7:12 p.m.

Schieffer: We saw more than a debate, we saw a great moment in our country's history.

7:11 p.m.

Bob Scheiffer: Thought the media did a great job with coverage. CBS had record audiences covering debates and speeches. When Obama and McCain appeared on 60 Minutes, the program had their largest audience.

We still have more to learn about Obama, but we have learned alot.

"He hasn't been around for a long time."

"We watch, report and analyze but we can't make the campaigns for them."

On election night "we saw a momentous occasion."

7:07 p.m.

Dotty Lynch: Coverage was "superficial" but people remained engaged and excited. They didn't learn as much as they could have and it's something the media has to work on in the future.

7:06 p.m.

Question to Rosenstiel: How was the media?

Journalists spend less time "uncovering rocks" this time. Press didn't answer, who is Barack Obama?

7:00 p.m.

And it begins....

6:53 p.m.

Dean Kirkman: "This is quite a CBS event." Panelists Dotty Lynch and Bob Schieffer work there and AU alum Susan Zirinsky is executive producer of 48 Hours.

6:50 p.m.

SOC Dean Larry Kirkman kicks off the event...doors will be closing in five minutes.

6:27 p.m.

I will be live blogging here from the American Forum. Right now, final set up is underway and about 100 people have filed in to take their seats.

Since you won't be a getting an event program, here are the links to the bios for tonight's panelists:

Bob Schieffer, host of CBS News' Face the Nation and chief Washington correspondent, CBS News

Dotty Lynch, executive in residence at SOC and CBS News political consultant

Tom Rosenstiel, director, Project for Excellence in Journalism

Gebe Martinez, regular contributing columnist, Politico

Tony Romm, editor of politics@theEAGLE

Moderated by Mark McDonald, Senior Director of Programming WAMU 88.5 FM