WHO: American University experts

WHAT: American University experts are available to speak about President Kennedy’s unique relationship with the media and how this compared to that of other presidencies.

WHEN: October 18- ongoing

WHERE: In-Studio, via Skype, via telephone, or at American University

CONTACT: American University Communications at 202-885-5935 or [email protected]

JFK’s effect on the media

Dotty Lynch is a Public Communication professor. She is the director of the Political Communication program at AU. She serves as a political consultant for CBS News doing on-air radio analysis and as a member of the CBS News Election Decision Desk. She was the CBS News senior political editor (1985-2005) and a member of the CBS News/New York Times polling consortium. Professor Lynch is able to discuss JFK’s impact on national political media.

W. Joseph Campbell is a Communication Studies professor. He joined the AU faculty in 1997, after more than 20 years as a professional journalist. Campbell is the author of five books, including most recently Getting It Wrong: Ten of the Greatest Misreported Stories in American Journalism. The book won the 2010 national Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi award for research about journalism. Campbell has many different courses at AU, including Media Myth and Power, Censorship and Media, and Foreign Policy and the Press. Professor Campbell is able to speak about how coverage of the Kennedy assassination initiated the rise of television as the dominant news source for Americans.

Richard Benedetto is a journalism professor. He is a retired White House correspondent and columnist for USA Today and political columnist for Gannett News Service. He reported on local, state and national government and politics for nearly 40 years and continues to write political commentary for publications such as Politico. Benedetto is a founding member of USA Today. He wrote the national newspaper’s first Page One cover story. Benedetto covered the White House during the administrations of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. He has covered every national political convention since 1972 and every presidential campaign since 1984. He can discuss how President Kennedy’s treatment of the White House press pool differed from other presidents.