ByGeorge! Online

April 16, 2002

Cutting the Ribbon on “Crossfire”

First Shows Deemed a Success

By Thomas Kohout

Crowds of students, faculty, and many first-time visitors to The George Washington University campus lined up outside the doors of the Jack Morton Auditorium in the Media and Public Affairs Building to observe an unlikely group of guests during the inaugural week of CNN’s “Crossfire.”

The nightly topics for the show, airing Monday through Friday from 7–8 pm, ranged from the Israeli and Palestinian crisis to the stability of England’s monarchy, and the eclectic mix of political luminaries — including Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle; Democratic National Committee Chair Terry McAuliffe; Republican National Committee Chair Marc Racicot; Congressman Bob Barr; Rev. Jessie Jackson; and even Peter Post, the great grandson of the sage of good manners, Emily Post — have left audiences and the show’s staff ecstatic about the early results.

“The early numbers have been very positive,” says Sam Feist, the program’s senior executive producer, about the ratings for the show during its inaugural week. “In terms of where we were last year compared with where we are today, we are significantly better.”

Feist adds that the goal of the first week was simply to get the show on the air and introduce the new hour-long format to the community. But the audience response, and the relatively problem-free production during the week, have everyone at the cable network elated.

“Everyone at CNN is thrilled with how the first week went,” he says. “A lot can go wrong during a live broadcast, but very few things did. I consider that to be a huge accomplishment.”

Among the most satisfying outcomes for the producers have been the mix of students and people from outside the University, as well as the response to the phone (994-8CNN) and E-mail (cnn@gwu.edu) ticket information services.

“We’re getting great feedback from students,” says Heather Clapp, coordinating producer of “Crossfire” at GW. In the first week alone she has responded to several hundred requests for tickets.

Among those requesting tickets to come to GW and participate in “Crossfire,” Clapp recalls one guest in particular.

“We had a 12-year-old from Houston, TX, contact us about coming to see ‘Crossfire’,” she says. He told Clapp he was a big fan of the show and named all of the hosts and a number of the recent guests. “When we asked if he was a Republican or a Democrat he said, ‘I’m a Democrat, but I’m only 12 years old, so it’s really too early to tell.’ ”

Clapp also has taken to using the University E-mail system to reach out to various groups on campus. When early crowds seemed to be a little unbalanced in favor of the Democrats, Clapp sent out the word to boost audience participation among the GOP loyal.

“I wanted to get a little more political diversity in the audience,” says Clapp, joking, “I don’t want to get in trouble with Bob Novak.”

The inaugural broadcast of “Crossfire” at GW featured all four of the show’s hosts — Paul Begala, James Carville, Robert Novak, and Tucker Carlson — as well as Daschle in the opening segment and DNC Chair McAuliffe and RNC Chair Racicot in the second half of the program

Carlson quickly jumped on the senator from South Dakota, asking if Daschle agreed with the premise that the violence in the Middle East is partly President Bush’s fault, because he hasn’t been attentive enough to Israel.

Daschle responded with the kind of pointed commentary that has made “Crossfire” a leader in political debate programming for more than 20 years. “Well, I think what you’ve seen in the last six days are six terrorist attacks that require our presence. I don’t think there’s any question, Tucker, that unless we’re there, as the vice president himself said just recently, we can’t possibly hope to have any kind of resolution here.”

The newest coup for the CNN/GW partnership is its inclusion on the Old Town Trolley Tours route. The agreement is part of long-range outreach program designed to attract tourists, particularly when school is not in session. The arrangement establishes GW as a regular stop on Old Town Trolley’s tour of Washington landmarks.

“The first week we focused on reaching out to the campus community,” says Clapp of the outreach effort. “So far everyone has been really enthusiastic, and the guests have a lot of fun while they’re here.”

 

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