CLP 2009: Day 13, Thursday June 11

College Leaders Program Class of 2009
Day 14—Friday, June 12, 2009
Reported by:  Andrew Lundsten, Christopher Newport University

This was the last day that Dr. Quentin Kidd taught the first half of our lecture series called “The Informed Citizen.”  His aim was to give us a solid understanding of the geographical, political, and historical makeup of the Commonwealth.  Today we discussed a number of topics, including the budgetary process, funding from state vs. federal government, education, transportation, and the tax structure.  It was a great way to end the lecture with a survey of different topics, giving us a variety of perspectives on different issues.
     Craig Evans, a renowned journalist and former editor of Backpacker magazine, was nice enough to take time out of his busy day to speak with us.  Mr. Evans spoke about how it is essential for media to be the “4th estate.”  In other words, media is the fourth entity that should keep the three branches of government accountable.  In many respects news - particularly cable news - has moved from neutral reporting to biased commentary.  For this reason we must all view the media with a skeptic’s eye and dig below the surface to fully understand the facts.  Hearing his perspective on the evolution of media was both fascinating and informative.

—Andrew Lundsten, Christopher Newport University