December 6, 2002
Boise State University
Boise, Idaho
How do the national media cover western resource issues? How does that coverage affect public policy?
Those were the questions considered at a day-long conference, Dateline: The West, on December 6, 2002 at Boise State University. Presented by the Andrus Center for Public Policy, the Idaho Statesman, and the Gannett Co. Pacific Group, the purpose of the gathering was to explore how news organizations make decisions about what to report and why, and how those decision, in turn, affect public opinion and public policy decisions.
Those who undertook to explore these questions included Peter Jennings, ABC News anchor and senior editor; Katy Roberts, a senior editor at the New York Times; Tom Kenworthy, national correspondent for USA Today, Scott Kraft, national editor of the Los Angeles Times; Congressman Mike Simpson of Idaho; former U.S. Senator Alan K. Simpson of Wyoming; and many regional journalists, elected officials, environmentalists, and industry representatives.
A copy of transcript and the conference report are available in printed form from the Andrus Center or click the links below to download a .pdf version.
Dateline: The West: Conference Transcript (.pdf format 2.3Mb)