Politics Archives - Page 2 of 5

September 21, 2019January 6, 2024

Journalists should stop subsidizing the pundit class

[An expanded version of this essay appears in my book Kneading Journalism]

It seems to be its own past-time to ask John Kasich whether he’s going to run again for president, perhaps even challenging the incumbent Donald Trump.

CNN is especially interested in Kasich’s plans, and the network invited the two-term Ohio Governor to let viewers see into a crystal ball, and know if he sees a way to the White House.

“Right now, I don’t see it,” Kasich told the network, surely dashing the hopes of keen political observers wanting another narrative arc to follow.

“That doesn’t mean there wouldn’t be a path down the road,” he said, maintaining the possibility of a plot twist later.

I wasn’t surprised by Kasich saying this to CNN in August 2019, not only because I’m a journalist in Ohio and generally feel there would be more buzz before such a move.

The main reason I wasn’t surprised to read about Kasich on CNN is because Kasich is on CNN’s payroll as a Sr. Political Commentator, and pundit.

July 30, 2019July 30, 2019

The time I interviewed John Kasich in Davos

John Kasich interviewed by Tony Ganzer for the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation. (Jump to transcript)

I recognized John Kasich more from his days at Fox News than as a politician as I searched through the Davos Congress Centre for potential interview partners.

My bureau chief from Zurich and I made up a two-person team for twice daily reports from the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting, and we took turns hopping from web feeds, to live events, to demonstrations, and sometimes just walking through a convention center looking for interviews.

August 6, 2018July 5, 2021

A K-pop ‘ARMY’ might show us a way forward in the ‘War on Media’ (no, really)

Journalists, at their core, are supposed to be representatives for their fellow citizens. They’re afforded a Willy Wonka-style ‘golden ticket’ to enter board rooms, factory floors, and the streets of our communities to show and help explain what the heck is going on.

The public expects journalists to use that access and special status to get the public information they need to understand our world better, and know where they might want to advocate, or protest, or investigate more.

This may seem obvious to say, so why say it? The on-going ‘War on Media’ is adding to the already crippling deficit of trust between journalists and some segments of society, and it doesn’t need to be that way.

March 20, 2017March 31, 2017

Extended TV Interview with U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown on Trade, Jobs, Great Lakes, more

Ohio’s Democratic U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown spent much of today (March 20, 2017) in Cleveland, for events touching, in part on infrastructure investment, and job creation.

ideastream’s Tony Ganzer spoke with Brown about a number of issues, including proposed cuts to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, renegotiating trade deals like NAFTA, his thoughts on job and career-creation, and his thoughts on President Trump, among others.

[iframe width=”640″ height=”360″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/Qhr9tZIQCHM” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen]

Listen to a radio report and find a partial transcript from WCPN:

TV excerpt aired March 20, 2017 on WVIZ’s Ideas program. A radio excerpt aired the same day on WCPN’s All Things Considered.

BROWN: “A trade war is unacceptable, and I would hope the President doesn’t want to see a trade war. I certainly have never, my position on trade has never gone to that. But I think the whole idea of renegotiation suggests that both sides come to the table, and you renegotiate issues like the rules of origin for auto, which would matter for our auto industry, not just Ford, and GM, and Chrysler, and Honda in Ohio, but the whole supply chain. You also talk about investor-state dispute settlement, where corporations have the power to sue other countries on trade that really does ultimately undermine consumer protections, environmental rules, and all that. So those are the ones we need renegotiation. Two days after the election, literally, I called the President’s, I called the leader of his transition team on trade, and talked to him at length about my offer to help him renegotiate NAFTA, to pull out of Trans-Pacific Partnership, and to be aggressive about trade enforcement rules. That sometimes makes other countries unhappy. They enforce their rules aggressively, we should, too. That doesn’t mean trade war, it means a leveler playing field, and it means you follow the rule of law. We haven’t done that as well as we should. I’m hopeful, and I will stand with this president to do that. I’ve not seen anything come out of that yet, I hopeful it does.”

January 30, 2017June 12, 2018

TV Debrief with tape: Some Confusion, Frustration After Executive Order On Refugees

There is still much confusion around President Donald Trump’s Executive Order temporarily barring citizens from seven largely Muslim countries, and refugees, from entering the U.S.

After the President signed the Order Friday, came news that a Syrian family had been scheduled to leave a refugee camp in Turkey Monday, to arrive in Cleveland Tuesday.

ideastream’s Tony Ganzer shares some of the local reaction to the travel ban from refugee resettlement organization US Together, and a Syrian business owner living in Northeast Ohio.

https://youtu.be/gkzn0meCGWw

Find more on this story here.

November 27, 2016January 20, 2017

C-SPAN Discussion: The Next President’s Foreign Policy Inbox

What should the main international priorities be for the next U.S. President? Join us, the Cleveland Council on World Affairs, International Partners in Mission, and the Northeast Ohio Consortium for Middle Eastern Studies (NOCMES) for a free conversation on the foreign policy issues facing our next president.

Panelists include:
Anand Gopal, journalist and author of No Good Men Among the Living: America, the Taliban and the War Through Afghan Eyes
Kathryn Lavelle, Ph.D., Ellen and Dixon Long Professor in World Affairs, Case Western Reserve University
Qingshan Forrest Tan, Ph.D., Professor of Political Science, Cleveland State University

This discussion is moderated by WCPN host/producer Tony Ganzer. The full video is here.

Find out more from The City Club of Cleveland

April 15, 2013September 26, 2021