This course introduces class participants to the political significance and societal consequences of challenges facing U.S. and international policymakers. It is designed to help participants develop skills to analyze policy proposals and advocate for their preferred options for issues on the public policy agenda ahead. The class assumes basic knowledge about governing institutions and democratic processes, while recommending supplemental materials for further study to complement reading links provided. The course focuses on future policy challenges, while examining the broad historical context in which policies are adopted and implemented. As the course evaluates how issues are advanced by private sector interests, non-governmental organizations, and government policymakers, it examines how groups become effective policy advocates. Particular attention is paid to how winning coalitions are formed and how issue framing shapes the outcome of policy campaigns. The goal is neither to produce partisan talking points, nor to favor one governance philosophy over others. Rather it is to clarify the public policy challenges ahead and to enhance participants’ understanding of how policy options are adopted in the real world arena of contemporary politics.
Dee Dee Myers Continues to Answer UVa Student Questions
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From the course by University of Virginia
Public Policy Challenges of the 21st Century
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From the lesson
The Media and Changing Nature of Politics
Clinton White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers explains issue framing, coalition building and how modern media in shapes public policy options.
Meet the Instructors
- Professor Gerry WarburgProfessor of Public Policy, Assistant Dean for External Affairs
Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy
I was wondering if you could comment on sort of what you see as the role of
media in informing the citizenry.
Because I know there's been a lot of critique of American citizens,
in particular, as being more uninformed than other countries.
Like Britain, where they have a public broadcast system, so
do you think that's a failure of our media system?
Do you think that it's the education [INAUDIBLE].
>> Yeah, its a good its a great question I
as I said I think we're in transition right.
We're in transition of sort of what is our media environment going to look like and
you know, what is news?
You know, Americans don't pay any very much
attention to developments around the world for example.
And part of the reason for that is historic.
It's never when you're the, you know, super power.
One of two, or one of one.
What happens in Ukraine doesn't necessarily affect you as much as if
you're living in, you know, Europe or someplace else.
Where you, you know, you feel it economically,
you feel the threat a little bit more physically, so that, that's part of it.
It's just that we, we're so, we, we've been insulated.
We've been lucky, and we've grown up in a world where we haven't always had to
be looking over our at wh, what, what the rest of the world's doing.
And part of, part of it is that we, we, we, no, we're never going to have a BBC.
Look at how controversial NPR can be, right?
And it, I mean, the NPR's sort of share if the Federal budget is so
miniscule in real dollars and percentages that barely matters.
We can't agree whether it's a good thing or bad thing.
And so we're never going to have a big, like BBC like thing.
But what we have in place, you know, can be pretty good.
Which is a market based delivery system for information.
And you know, in many ways that's great.
So, you, you can have Buzz Feed and
the Wall Street Journal, right, and, and, and between the Furnst.
And all, all those things are good.
And you know, we can have Jon Stewart who produce, who,
who provides news in a very different way than Brian Williams.
And yet, bo, both are valuable.
The problem is one that I mentioned earlier which is
that we've become very ideologically siloed.
And so people tend to go to a,
a news source that reinforces rather than challenges their world view.
And I think it's very hard for
us as consumers of news to know, who do we trust and who do we believe?
It's funny because so much of the, you know,
you have the mainstream media then you have all these alternative medias.
But I find that so
much of what's in the alternative media is based on reporting from mainstream media.
It's like we're debating something that was reported in
the New York Times because nobody else was there to cover the story.
Or maybe it's the New York Times and you know, a couple other news outlets.
And but, but increasingly there's not that many around the world because there's no
budget for it.
And so I think the role of those mainstream news organizations is in
many ways more important than ever.
Even as there's all these other com, competitors out there and they're trying
to figure out how to, how to be profitable enough to suc, to survive.
So it's a complex moment and I think we're just going to continue to sort through it.
I do think it's really important that we have, you know you cannot have
a successful democracy without a, a somewhat informed citizenry.
And so it's incumbent on us to create a trust.
You know, figure out how do we get people interested.
And that's as policymakers right?
Whatever, whatever that actually means to you in your lives.
Getting people interested in what you're doing and
why it matters, and how the outcomes effect them.
And what they should think, and
what they should do is, is very much part, part of the challenge.
And so you know there's a com, communications challenge the policy.
You increasingly see company's and organizations and government
organizations bringing communicators into the policy making process.
Not to appeal to people, the most common nominator.
Not because they're trying to make policy that's popular, but
they need to communicate policy whatever that is.
And the earlier in the process you do that, and the more you bring people in and
help them understand it, the better off you are.
If you can do it. But
it's a big challenge because there's all kinds of, you can watch.
Like what's a really dumb reality show?
There's so many I wouldn't.
Like, if you could watch Real House.
That's, Real House Wives seems tame by today's standards.
Where you people could be watching all kinds of other stuff.
So, how do you get them to pay attention to stuff that's, you know, important.
Why, how do you get them to eat there peas and
carrots when they can have, you know, ice creams sundaes all daylong.
It's hard.
Yeah?
>> I had a question. You mentioned transparency earlier and
how it's a double edged sword.
And I was wondering in your option how do you see a po,
a potential solution to that issue of transparency.
And which way do you think would be better for
the country to go, more transparency, less transparency?
>> You know, I generally think.
That more transparency is helpful, right?
It, it's you know it, it most of the time.
But we, but, but how do we provide more transparency and also create a space for
decision makers to not have to do everything in public.
For a couple of reasons.
One, because it makes it very hard to develop consensus and
it makes it very hard for people to kind of try on these ideas.
Try to make common ground with somebody,
who might just screw with them in a lot of different ways.
Or be politically seen as advantageous for them to be seen as agreeing with.
Like, no Republican can agree with Barack Obama without a high penalty.
But maybe there is a way to build a compromise.
If you can spend some time exploring.
And so how do you create a little bit of space outside of the bright light of a, a,
a, a public scrutiny for those kinds of conversations?
I don't know the answer to it but, but because, and, and, because,
because all the, all the pressures and all the all the opportunities, right?
All the technologies is getting us more possibility to be, for transparency right?
I love, I love transp, like, in, in campaign finance.
Which I think is a complete,
we're in disastrous moment in terms of campaign finance.
But the one thing is, at a, at a minimum,
the minute somebody writes a check to any kind of a political organization.
It should be posted online, all right.
And everybody should know that who, you know, who's giving the money and
to what group.
And to, and sort of what do these groups actually do,
as opposed to having every group under the name like, Americans for freedom.
And so you don't know if it's a Dem, a Republican or
Conservative group or progressive group.
Or if they're for you know gun in the hands of school children.
I mean you just don't know.
Um,and so, you know unearthing some of that's really important.
And, and sort of like who's trying to put their thumb on the scale and
pull the levers of power that's all useful but how you create that space.
Right? So we can have an honest conversation and
maybe bring people together around difficult issues and
forge something like a consensus.
Yes. >> I just had a question,
earlier you were kind of joking around about how you were on the,
the losing side of these elections over and over.
But you came across this opportunity with the Clinton campaign that like
changed your life.
I guess, what do you think is something that set you apart that kind of that made
him seek you out or made you come across this opportunity.
And what can we do as like future leaders to set ourselves apart and
maybe come across opportunities like this?
Even though, you know, I'm sure a lot of us will fail multiple times in our lives.
But like what can we do to set ourselves apart and
what do you think made yourself stand out?
>> It's a great question, I, I, and I think you,
you, you will, you all will fail.
Right [LAUGH] it's inevitable.
I mean, there's and that's why reading biographies is good.
because you know, you, you read about someone like Winston Churchill and
how many times he fell down.
And so, I do think and one of the things th, that Jerry mentions.
I think for anybody it's the ability to fail and then get back up.
And I do think one of the difference one of the things I, I see with women.
Is that women are sometimes you know, they'll run for office once and
they'll lose and they'll say, well, I tried then and it didn't work.
Whereas a man will more easily run two or three times until he's elected.
And so I do think, you know, being willing to you know,
sort of accept setback as part of success, right?
It's not the end of the story.
It's a chapter in the story, and you need to keep moving forward.
I, I, I think what, for me as, as a young person, I just had,
I think as I look back on it, I didn't feel like it at the time.
But I think I had pretty high risk tolerance, for whatever reasons.
You know I thought, what's the worst thing I could do?
I'd have to go home and move in with my mom and dad.
Okay, that's not choice number one, but it's not the end of the world.
And so I was able to work on all of these losing campaigns and
then I'd go get a job at a department store at Christmas time or something.
You know, and I, I, I have never, and I think this is important, two things.
One I just think it's really important to do something that you love, right?
You cannot make a five year plan.
Well you can.
But don't wed yourself to a five year plan, right.
you, you, life will throw you opportunities and curve balls.
And you need to be able to kind of you know, learn to hit one and
take advantage of the other.
And so not being too wedded to a plan and an idea how your life should unfold.
it, it, it, it is important.
And if you do something that you love I think you'll be good at it,
you'll you know, opportunities will present themselves.
And you know, things will take care of themselves.
Now parents don't always love me, hearing me say that.
Because you know, kids get out of school and they've spent $800 million on
their education and to get a job making, you know, $14,000 a year.
But it's okay.
You know, you're going to be fine.
It's, you guys are all positioned to do really well.
And then one other thing is particularly.
You have to be willing to do what needs to be done.
I mean, I hear this a lot from my collea, my friends in the, particularly in
the sort of corporate world more than in my particular consulting world.
But we see it a little bit there too.
You gotta do what needs to be done.
Right. It is,
life is about scut work in a lot of ways, it's doing what needs to be done.
Its not glamor, theres no job in the world that is glamorous.
Being White House Secretary was not glamorous.
I mean, it had aspects of glamour, I got to meet really cool people and
fly around in Air Force One.
But you know what I did most of the time?
I fought with reporters.
You know, what I mean?
I made sure they got what they needed.
And I took their phone calls at 11 o'clock at night,
when I didn't want to talk to them.
And there was a young women when I was there who came as a White House intern.
And she w,
we had a suite and, and my office and two other offices opened onto a bullpen area.
Where there's a lot of a, a couple interns and a couple assistants.
And one day there's this brand new assistant it was like her second day.
And I walked out there and
she was, she was sitting there at one desk and a phone was ringing across the room.
All of a sudden she just gets up and she just went across the room and
dove across the desk and answered the phone White House press office.
And then she hung, and then she apologized.
I'm so sorry, no that's not my, I would, that's not my responsibility.
But I didn't think a phone in the White House Press office should go unanswered.
I'm like, you're hired.
I don't know what you're applying for, but you're and she did.
She worked, she was an intern in the White House.
She finished college.
She came work for me for like five years.
Because she had that like duh, right?
But a lot of interns we, we would of sat there and gone well I,
I don't know, am I suppose to answer that?
Like just a little common sense, a little willingness to do a little more,
more asked of you, like figure it out.
And don't always come,
like don't always bring your prob, you obviously you're going to see problems.
You'll see challenges.
Bring, if you do that,
feel free to bring that to your supervisor, your boss, whoever.
But see that you come with a solution too.
Like, he might not be, it might not, that I don't always accept stuff.
I love when people come to me with a solution, like, wow, that's a great idea.
All right, maybe that's not going to quite work that way,
but let's bring into the conversation.
To figure out how we can use that energy and
new willingness to like, help us fix this, to actually fix it.
So I, I you know, I think all those things for you guys you know, you know,
keep your keep your willingness to do the hard stuff.
Come with solutions, you know, do what you love, don't try to you know,
figure out the future too much, especially right now.
You guys are going to be fine.
Take some risks while you, you know, before you, you've probably lost [LAUGH],
but before you have kids, if you don't have kids.
Before you're married and
all the things that make, you know, that narrow the number of choices you can make.
And have fun.
I mean, you should be having fun.
This is a great time in your life.
And bring that sense of joy to, to find something that gives you
enough joy that you bring that joy to your work place.
Makes a huge difference.
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