Gore And Letterman



April 7, 2001



BOB GARFIELD: This week we return to the classroom of former Vice President Al Gore. His stint as guest professor at the Columbia School of Journalism has drawn big ticket talkers -- Rupert Murdoch and Alan Greenspan among them. This time he hosted a host: David Letterman.

BROOKE GLADSTONE:Mr. Gore cited the now familiar statistic that 13 percent of Americans -- 50 percent of those under 30 -- get what he called a good bit of their news from late night comedy shows like Letterman's. But Letterman dismissed the idea that jokes influenced voting. More people read the funny pages than the front page, but do they act on what they see in Blondie [sp?] on a given day? Do they say here's what Dagwood did, so I'm going to do it?

BOB GARFIELD: As usual, On the Media managed to plant a mole in the classroom -- student Ben Stein joins us now. So Ben, how did it go?

STUDENT BEN STEIN:Went very well. It was very entertaining. Letterman seems to know a lot more than you would think as, you know, the host of a network talk show.

BOB GARFIELD: Did he let on how he regards the news media?

STUDENT BEN STEIN:Yeah, I think so. He said that you could get more interesting insight from flipping through the yellow pages at a fast pace than you can through watching local news.

BOB GARFIELD: How about the national media. Did he weigh in on them?

STUDENT BEN STEIN:Well I guess besides the point in trying to say that he's more interesting than Larry King, he didn't really weigh in too much on the national media.

BOB GARFIELD:Let me ask you this, Ben. Professor Gore's class thus far you have had Alan Greenspan, you've had Rupert Murdoch, now David Letterman. Are you going to a class in journalism or are you going to a celebrity talk show?

STUDENT BEN STEIN: I'm getting the sense that sometimes when Gore's up there in a chair next to his guests like Letterman or Greenspan it is sort of like a talk show and then, you know, and then Letterman lets us chime in.

BOB GARFIELD:How about Professor Gore? Does he let you chime in? Has he really been responsive to the questions you've asked him over the weeks about let's say, for example, the recount in Florida?

STUDENT BEN STEIN: The professor has not answered any questions about the recount in Florida. One was made today by one of my friends in the class, and Gore said I'm not going to answer, and that was in relation to an article saying that Bush would have won the election if there had been a recount.

BOB GARFIELD:In previous classes there have been some restrictions for example on what you were permitted to ask Alan Greenspan. So you have a class full of budding journalists and an ever-growing list of subject areas that they're not permitted to touch. Is there a sense of frustration in the class or has everyone just sort of accepted this as the situation that they have to live with?

STUDENT BEN STEIN: You know the consensus is that we're not going to be able to get to Gore; we're not going to be able to ask him about his experience in Washington; and we've just - I've - I've accepted this. Right now it's just sort of an experience.

BOB GARFIELD:This raises the question though if not his experience in Washington, what does qualify Al Gore to lecture to students to begin with? You might as well have Sally Jesse Raphael as your professor!

STUDENT BEN STEIN: Al Gore has told us that he's an experienced reporter; he reported before he went into politics, and he just has so much experience in dealing with the national media and local news media that he wants to bring his perspectives from, from this experience into our classroom.

BOB GARFIELD:With three weeks to go, who's benefitting the most? Is Gore getting more out of Columbia or is Columbia getting more out of Gore?

STUDENT BEN STEIN: I don't think Gore is benefitting. I think Columbia Journalism School is certainly benefitting from it. It's definitely giving it a lot of exposure. As far as the students, we could benefit from this if we had the, the right access to Gore and we could ask him more questions about his experience as vice president and especially the recount saga in Florida.

BOB GARFIELD: All right. Ben Stein, thanks so much for joining us.

STUDENT BEN STEIN: Thank you very much, Bob.

BOB GARFIELD: Ben Stein is a student in Professor Al Gore's class in journalism at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism.