Klein College of Media and Communication Global Opportunities (Klein GO) offers a half-semester course that includes a five-day excursion to the imminent 2020 New Hampshire Democratic Primary. Twenty-six students will travel to New Hampshire as a part of the class from Feb. 7 to Feb. 11. to attend rallies, interview constituents and meet with journalists, politicians and campaign teams.
Dr. David Mindich, chair of the Journalism Department, is teaching the course, titled Media & American Politics. Additionally, Diversity Advisor to the Dean and Professor David Brown and Professor Karen Turner will join Mindich as a group leaders. Students are using their class time to prepare for their immersion in the New Hampshire primaries. The class explores how politicians, journalists and activists work to communicate and inform Americans about politics.
“We have a front-row seat into democracy...it’s amazing, the access our students have,” said Mindich.
All students will hand in a final portfolio of their pieces at the end of the seven-week semester. A part of this portfolio will be a profile of a lesser-known presidential candidate who is running for president on the New Hampshire ballot. They have put together a website, presidentialhopefuls.org, to compile all of these profiles.
As they conduct their interviews and press coverage, the students will also share their experiences on social media. Follow the hashtags #PresidentialHopefuls and #KleinNH to stay up to date during the primaries. The Facebook page “Crowdsourcing U.S. Primaries/Caucuses 2020,” co-created by Professor Karen M. Turner will also post content from the students while in New Hampshire.