PoliticsFitzU members share Democratic National Convention stories

Aug 29, 2024

From Monadnock Ledger Transcript

Samantha Coletti, Davian Coy, Robert Doherty III, Abigail Farley. Mark LaChance, Megan Lachance, Jessica Recore and Violet Schuttler from the PoliticsFitzU program at Franklin Pierce University covered the recent Democratic National Convention in Chicago. PoliticsFitzU had also sought to cover the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, but did not receive credentials.

Nine members of the PoliticsFitzU team from the Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication rose before dawn on Monday, Aug. 19, in their dorm rooms on the campus of Franklin Pierce University or in their respective homes in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine to start their journeys to Chicago to cover the 2024 Democratic National Convention as credentialed press.

Together 12 hours later, after a shuttle trip from a media hotel that was disrupted and ground to a halt by protesters and long walks to security checkpoints with Pelican cases of equipment, they were standing among the media tents at the perimeter of the United Center. Fitzwater Center graduate assistant Abigail Farley, a 2024 graduate in political science from Townsend, Mass., was in the hall.

It was President Joe Biden’s night to pass the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris, who had made an unannounced brief appearance early in the evening.

“There was an audible ‘holy s--t’ through the crowd,” Farley recounted, still surprised by the force of the crowd’s reaction two days later. “This would be the theme of my time here at the DNC.”

PoliticsFitzU, the Fitzwater Center’s student media political reporting unit led by Director Kristen Nevious and Associate Producer Violet Schuttler, had covered the early days of this presidential election cycle and welcomed former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum to “Pizza & Politics” on campus. The team was on Radio Row in Manchester for the 2024 New Hampshire primary, and it traveled to Dixville Notch for the first-in-the-nation vote.

The process to receive press credentials to the Democratic National Convention took months and required clearance through the Secret Service. PoliticsFitzU’s request for credentials to the 2024 Republican National Convention was denied. The outlet covered both the Democratic and Republican national political conventions in 2008, 2012 and 2016; the pandemic precluded participation in 2020.

More than 15,000 media from around the globe were credentialed to cover the 2024 DNC. This included reporters, producers, videographers, photographers and influencers, but many outlets, like PoliticsFitzU, received a limited number of passes, requiring that team members trade passes to access different levels in the United Center. This required difficult decisions as to who covered what each night.

“Every cycle, it is a common misconception of PoliticsFitzU team members first developing their coverage plans that the evening programming is all there is to the convention,” said Nevious, who has led every PoliticsFitzU national political convention team. “This year’s team discovered what many previous PoliticsFitzU team members had – the most-memorable part of the convention is often not watching the party’s future leaders stake their claims to higher office, hearing the nominee’s acceptance speech or seeing the balloon drop. It is not necessarily hearing from two former presidents or being surprised by celebrities like Oprah. The most-memorable part of the convention usually turns out to be a very personal one buried deep within the experience.”

This year’s convention experience was a typically full one, with every day starting at 7:30 a.m. as party leaders made the rounds of the state delegation breakfast meetings at their respective hotels across the city. Minnesota U.S. Sen Amy Klobuchar, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, New Jersey U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore were among those appearing at the New Hampshire delegation breakfast alongside the Granite State’s Congressional delegation.

“It was interesting to be able to see and meet politicians from across the country,” said Jessica Recore, a junior journalism major and Fitzwater Scholar from Conway, Mass. “It gives you a different perspective of them and you get to know them on a more human level.”

Junior journalism major Megan Lachance’s first on-camera interview was with U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen at the Wednesday New Hampshire delegation breakfast.

“I have had the opportunity to speak with senators, delegates, alumni, and the chair of the New Hampshire Democratic Party. With every interview, my confidence grew,” said Lachance, whose trip from her hometown of Minot, Maine, was her first time on an airplane.

For Mark LaChance, a freshman Fitzwater Scholar and political science major from Fremont, who worked as a PoliticsFitzU videographer, meeting U.S. Rep.  Annie Kuster, with whom his mother had once worked, at Thursday’s breakfast was a highlight.

Caucus and council meetings ran from late morning to late afternoon every day at McCormick Place. Farley covered Tuesday’s Women’s Caucus, which she said provided another surprise during an unannounced visit by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democrats’ candidate for vice president.

“To my left people started to protest,” Farley said. “They screamed about women dying in Gaza and demanded that the U.S. stop sending weapons. I filmed everything [from mere feet away], and each peaceful protester was escorted out but one, who held on to the railing and refused to be pulled away. One guard took her banner and another worked to pry her hands off the bar.”

Later that day, Farley shared the footage with Nevious, who recognized the woman as the lone protester during Donald J. Trump’s acceptance speech at the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Medea Benjamin of Code Pink: Women for Peace had unfurled her banner immediately behind the PoliticsFitzU reporters in the press stands inside the hall, and their footage was picked up by the Boston Herald.

PoliticsFitzU had then spotted and interviewed Benjamin outside the media logistics space at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Farley is continuing to develop this story.

Farley’s “final and greatest” moment was a personal one – meeting Delaware’s Sarah McBride, the first openly transgender state senator in the country and the highest-ranking transgender elected official in United States history.

“I’m a trans woman and it was wonderful to read her book, to hear a voice like mine, to know there is a person with experiences like me,” she said.

Farley had been credentialed to cover McBride’s Wednesday speech at the LGBTQ+ Caucus but was unable to reach her for comments. On Thursday evening, however, as Farley was wrapping up an interview outside the United Center, she spotted McBride in the crowd and got her chance.

As expected, the evening programming was packed with highlights.

“I will never forget watching Michelle Obama speak at the DNC” Tuesday night, said senior Samantha Coletti, a communication major from Quincy, Mass. “The crowd was electric when she walked on stage. She had the crowd hanging on every word, feeling the energy in the room is something I have never experienced.”

Senior Fitzwater Scholar Robert Doherty of Westbrook, Maine, a communication major, was in the hall Wednesday night when Walz accepted the vice presidential nomination and again on Thursday night when  Harris accepted the presidential nomination.

“The DNC was an experience I won’t forget,” he said. “Not because I saw some of the most famous politicians of our time or even the potential future president of the United States of America. But it will be because of the regular Joes that were willing to speak about their political views in a time where it almost seems taboo to talk politics with someone that you don’t know or trust.”

Also in the United Center Thursday evening was Schuttler, a 2021 graduate of Franklin Pierce who lives in Rindge.

“As I’ve witnessed everyone around me develop their skills and continue the Fitzwater Center’s legacy, it makes me so proud to be a part of it,” she said. “This is a historic moment for women, and it makes me reflect on the importance of having strong female role models in every young person's life.”

In four days, the PoliticsFitzU team had logged a conservatively estimated 541,993 steps on an average of three to five hours sleep per night as they edited thousands of photos, audio and video files. As they wrapped up their convention coverage and headed to O’Hare International Airport, their takeaways solidified around several themes.

“As an aspiring journalist, having the opportunity to be able to go to the DNC was truly a once in a lifetime experience,” said Recore. “We had met other journalists and assumed they had been multiple times, and we were surprised to learn that this was for many their first time attending the DNC.”

Farley suggested “prepar[ing] for the unexpected and tak[ing] opportunities when they come,” something many PoliticsFitzU team members agreed with.

The PoliticsFitzU team started fall semester classes Tuesday. Two PoliticsFitzU members were part of the freshman class welcomed to Franklin Pierce on Saturday, the day after they returned from the DNC. Mark LaChance said spending the week at the DNC made freshman move-in day seem easy by comparison. Davian Coy, a Fitzwater Scholar and political science major from Richford, Vt., said that spending the previous week at the DNC was “like riding a meteor to my first day of class.”